Klaine's Fairy Tales
by remuswolfylupin
Summary: When Kurt finds an old book and key in a library attic he finds himself tossed into an adventure that involves a witch who's out to get him, magic, and a whole lot of Blaines. Tales are based off of Grimm's tales.
1. Old Books

_Hello everyone! _

_I'd appreciate it if you read this little thing ahead of time. Just because. ^^_

_See, I've always wanted to write a story or two based off of Grimm's fairy tales. I've loved them for years and there's so many. It's funny cause I had only gotten to read some before but then I found this really really really old copy at an antique shop and got to read a whole bunch more. Try reading The Death of the Little Hen sometime. You'll laugh. I'm actually going to write a Klaine's Fairy Tale story for it after I'm finished with the actual Klaine's Fairy Tales story. Anyway, so I've wanted to do this for a while and then realized I could use this idea for a Klaine fic. It was too perfect. So maybe one day I'll write an actual book with some adventures based off of Grimm's tales, but for now please enjoy Klaine's Fairy Tales! All the titles of the tales, except for this opening and the ending, are titled after an actual Grimm's fairy tale that the chapter is based off of. I would totally reccommend you check the real tales out, because they are amazing. And rather entertaining. Because this story is so exciting for me to write, I will shamelessly beg for plenty of reviews because it will mean a lot to me. I love you all lots. Thanks to everyone who keeps reading all my fics. You're awesome._

* * *

><p>Kurt was not entirely sure why he was here stuck in the huge attic of the town library organizing old books. Well, scratch that, he knew exactly why he was here, but he still did not like the 'here' part. The library had posted a few signs about town asking for help with organizing old books for the huge book sale it held every year. A lot of older books were being brought up to the attic to be stored away. Kurt thought they should just be tossed out then, but whatever. His father had taken the liberty of signing him up to help out though – said that it would be good for him to help out the town a little. Kurt had, of course, protested quite a bit until Burt had threatened to cut his clothing money. Considering Kurt was saving up for summer clothes shopping there was no way he was letting that happen.<p>

So Kurt agreed to go help out at the library. He would rather be at the mall instead. Mercedes and Tina had planned a trip out that morning and Kurt would have loved to join them. Here he was instead; stuck in a dusty, low lighted attic, surrounded by boxes of old books. The dust kept making him sneeze. At least he had his iPod and his cell phone with him. He had smuggled his iPod dock in – thanking whoever had built the library for having electrical outlets in the attic – and was currently listening to his music on shuffle. Every once in a while he would get a text from Mercedes about some thing or other she had found at the mall. Finn had even texted him at one point, asking him something about glow in the dark shoe laces, but Kurt had chosen to reply to that one later once he was out of here. Maybe, if he was lucky, Blaine might even text him again. They had only met a few weeks ago, but Kurt could not deny that every time he saw a text from 'Blaine Warbler' on his cell phone his heart beat just a tiny bit faster.

It was not much of a surprise that no one else had shown up so far. After all, not many people even came to the town library. Kurt was kind of disappointed he was the only one though. Maybe he should have asked Rachel if she would want to help. She was probably off having vocal lessons or pre planning all her terrible outfits for the next week. If only she would just listen to him once in a while about her attire maybe she would not look like a complete fashion disaster half of the time. Really, some of those knee socks and sweaters just had to go.

Not exactly knowing where to start, Kurt opened up the box closest to him. There were lots of small paperbacks inside. Organizing them would take ages. Sighing, Kurt stood and went about opening all the boxes. Once he was finished he crouched back down at the first box and reached in to start pulling out the paperbacks.

That was when he spotted the box in the furthest corner from where he was at. He caught it out of the corner of his eye. Standing, Kurt went over to check it out. Cobwebs and dust layered over the box and he was sure it had not been touched in over several years if not longer. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Kurt slowly pulled the box out from the corner. It was so light he wondered if there was even anything in it. Reluctantly, Kurt wiped the cobwebs that were on his hands off onto his dark blue skinny jeans. His hands seemed a bit sweaty; how had it gotten so much hotter since he had first arrived? When he lifted one of the top flaps of the box a cloud of dust rose into the air and caused a fit of sneezing. Some dust even got into his eyes and he had to blink rapidly to clear them. Eyes watering, Kurt sneezed once more then opened the top of the box the rest of the way, slowly, and peeked inside. His curiosity grew as he saw what the old box held. An extremely old book, with no writing of any kind on the cover, lay inside. Right next to it, looking like it had just been dropped in, was a thin leather corded necklace with a small silver key.

"Odd." He commented out loud. Reaching inside the box, Kurt pulled the silver key out and examined it. There was nothing descriptive on the key whatsoever. It was just small and silver. He put the necklace around his wrist to keep it off to the side for later – maybe there was something else up here in the attic the key went to; he'd have to look – and then reached back into the box for the old book. It had the musty old book smell that made Kurt sneeze a bit. There was no print of any kind on either the front, back, or spine of the book. The hardcover was greenish gray and fraying a bit at the edges. Kurt opened the front cover of the book and was surprised to see there was no writing on the inside either. It was not until he flipped three more pages in that he finally found something printed in faded black ink. It was a picture. Two old men sat on thrones that were surrounded by images of plants and what seemed to be little fairy like creatures. "Really odd." He was just about to turn the page to see if there were any other images when he heard a slight shuffling sound and felt a light breeze coming from behind him. The sound would not have bothered him as much had it not been for the light breeze. There was only one window in the attic and it was right along the wall semi in front of him, and it also happened to be closed. The library was built out of brick and even though it was old there were not really a lot of cracks in the walls and roof. So how could a light breeze just happen to blow the back of his hair gently? Turning around on his heels, Kurt stood in surprise and shock.

It was as if he was seeing something out of one of those fairy tale stories he used to read a lot when he was younger. An extremely tall, thin, pale and powerful looking woman stood across the room, her eyes watching him with an eerie glow. Whatever she was wearing was covered by a dark, fraying cloak, held closed by a huge clasp like thing near her throat that looked like knotted wood. If her appearance was not creepy enough, her hair about gave Kurt a heart attack. It was straw like – in major need of conditioner, in Kurt's opinion – and graying black, a frizzy mess that surrounded her face. Kurt would never ever leave his bedroom if his hair looked like that all the time. Dark shadows seemed to surround the woman and all the warmth seemed to have left the room.

"Who are you?" Kurt asked, hoping that maybe if she spoke it would get rid of the terrible feeling he had been getting from the silence. The lady did not respond however, just moved forward and drew closer to him. He considered making a run for it but the woman moved too quickly and cut off his chance for escape. This caused him to start panicking a bit and he backed up against the wall, holding his hands up to defend himself. What the heck was going on? "Get away from me!"

Still ignoring him, the woman lifted a thin arm and reached out to place her hand against Kurt's forehead. Darkness edged his vision and then it was like something heavy hit him on the top of the head. Kurt's legs gave out and he crumpled to the floor.

When Kurt finally came to, he was in a small, dimly lit room. There was no furniture and the silence felt heavy. He groaned and sat up on the gray cement floor, holding a hand to the top of his head gently. Everything seemed to shift for a quick second and he had to hold his self steady. There was a really tender spot on the top of his head. Whatever had hit him had been heavy. Once Kurt felt a little less dizzy he looked about the room. There was a door on the other side of the room and it was almost the same shade of the paint on the walls; Kurt's eyes almost swept right on by it.

"What the heck is going on here?" His voice was oddly quiet and it felt like the room just swallowed up the sound. Making sure to move slowly in case he was dizzy again, Kurt slowly stood and made his way over to the door. Thankfully it was unlocked and he managed to get it open despite its heaviness. Poking his head through the opening, he gasped a bit at what he saw.

Two huge wooden thrones sat in the middle of a huge empty room that shone with light from a huge window that covered the entire space of the high ceiling. Thick vines, plants, and odd flowers he had never seen before covered the thrones and it looked like little butterflies were fluttering about. It was not until he spotted the two old men sitting on the thrones that he got an odd feeling of déjà vu. Where had he seen this image before? It took him a few seconds but then he remembered. The old book! This had been the exact image he had seen printed on that page; though the butterflies here had been fairies back in the printed image.

"Kurt Hummel," a voice came from one of the old men in the middle of the room; the sound echoed in this room as opposed to being swallowed up and deafened in the room he had just been in, "please come in."

Kurt froze a bit at the voice, but then figured there really was no where else for him to go but back into that small room behind him and he did not want that so he stepped forward, shutting the door behind him. "H-how do you know my name?" He asked, curiosity masking his slight fear for a few seconds.

"We know all about you."

Oh Gaga.

"Come closer." The other man spoke in a commanding tone. Kurt could not help noticing both men had distinctive German accents.

Not really wanting to disobey, considering he had no idea what might happen if he did, Kurt moved forward and closer to the two thrones until he was standing right in front of them. Now that he was closer he could get a better look at the two old men. They looked alike, as if they were related, their hair white and long. One was slightly taller than the other, but Kurt was pretty sure it was because the shorter looking one was slouching. So not good for posture, he thought. Their clothing looked extremely old, and odd. Kurt was not even sure what time they were from, and he generally knew more about clothing than anyone else he knew. He was probably going to start going crazy if he let himself believe that this felt like something from a story. Maybe he had just fallen asleep up in that attic and was having a really odd dream right now. That had to be it. He pinched himself just to be sure. It hurt. Damn. Okay, so maybe it was not a dream. After all, it would not have hurt if he was asleep, right? "So, you two know my name. What are yours?" Kurt figured he had a right to know. Although maybe the better question to ask would be 'can I just go home now?'

"I am Jakob," the brother on the left spoke, "and this is my brother, Wilhem." Well, that explained why the two looked so alike. They could not be more than a year apart or so, it seemed to Kurt.

"Okay...so next question." Kurt folded his arms across his chest. He was forcing himself to try and be calm about all this just so he would not start freaking out. "Where am I and how do I get home?" Huh, maybe there would be a simple solution like some nice designer ruby shoes that he could put on and just pull a Dorothy. That would be convenient.

No such luck though. Wilhem lifted a hand and pointed towards the doorway Kurt had just come through. "There. That is the only way you can return."

Kurt turned his head to look but then looked back at the man in confusion. "But I just came from there...it was only a small room."

"It's called the 'Tor'." Jakob informed him. "It...changes a lot, depending on where you're going and coming from. There are a lot of worlds out there besides yours, Kurt, and the Tor can lead to all of them."

Kurt took a few seconds to process that. It was really hard to believe. Then again, he was already here and this was apparently real so this Tor thing had to be real as well. And it was his way home, so he had to give it some sort of faith. "So, you're saying that if I go back in there I'll be taken home?"

"Not necessarily." Wilhem replied. "After all, the Tor leads to many places and it does not always just take you where you want to go."

Great. So he could be stuck traveling to all sorts of 'worlds' if this Tor thing decided it hated him or something. Awesome.

Suddenly there was a loud booming sound and the ground beneath them started shaking violently. Kurt ended up falling over, throwing his arms out to catch himself. He saw something shiny fly out of his pocket. The two men seemed unaffected by the shaking. The light above them started to dim as black clouds rolled over the glass window.

"What's going on?" Kurt yelled out, hoping the brothers could hear him over all the noise.

"It's the Witch!" One of the brothers yelled in response. "You have the key. She must be after it!"

"The key?" Kurt looked down at the ground to find the shiny object that had flown from his pocket. Sure enough there was the small silver key on the leather cord from earlier. How it had gotten in his pocket he had no idea. "Why would she be after it?"

"That's not just any old key, Kurt-" Another loud boom sounded all around them and then a huge crack resounded as the glass above them split through the middle. "Go!" One of the brothers shouted at him. "The Tor will take you where you need to go! Don't let her have the key! Go!"

Kurt was really confused by this point, but they had told him to go and, to be honest, he really did not want to stick around. Things were getting really dangerous and he was only seventeen. No way he was sticking about to get killed by this Witch lady. He wondered if that was the same lady who had knocked him out before. Kurt really wanted to know what was so special about the key, but it looked like he did not have any time to ask. Without another word, he turned and ran back to the door, ripping it open and running inside. The door slammed shut by itself behind him and when he spun around to look at it everything went black and he lost consciousness once more.


	2. Brother and Sister

When Kurt finally opened his eyes again he was in the small gray room once more. The key was held tightly in his fist, having made a slight impression in the palm of his hand. His head was aching again as well. He made sure he was well enough before he stood and then went for the door. His fingers were crossed that the attic awaited him on the other side. Disappointment and slight fear settled in his stomach when he opened the door and what greeted him was nothing but dense woods.

"This can not be happening." Kurt sighed, knowing how silly it was to just be talking out loud to his self. He stepped out of the gray room and shut the door behind him. Then he opened the door and went back in again. Nothing happened. He opened the door and went back out. The woods still were there. Great, now with his luck the Tor was probably broken too. Awesome. Nothing for him to do now. Maybe he could find some help somewhere. Though he was pretty sure if he tried explaining this to anyone they would think he was crazy. Even he was starting to think he had gone crazy.

Suddenly he heard voices off to the right a bit in the woods. They sounded like children's voices. Curious, but wary, Kurt quietly made his way into the woods and kept going until the voices grew louder. Hiding behind a few bushes, Kurt spotted two young children. It was a boy and a girl and they were holding hands as they walked along. The boy was slightly taller and had dark curly hair. The girl had lighter, straight hair. As he watched the little girl tripped over a branch at the bend in the road and the boy stopped to help her back up.

"Be careful, sister!" That voice sounded somewhat familiar, or was he just imagining it? After he helped her up they continued on their way. It seemed they were moving rather quickly, as if they were trying to get away from somewhere or someone even. "Do you suppose there's a little brook nearby?" The boy asked his sister. "I sure could use a drink."

They were getting closer to the bushes Kurt was hiding behind so he backed away and moved further down the trail ahead of them, remaining hidden. He did not want to be seen, but the siblings were the only signs of life he had spotted so far and he did not want to lose track of them either. As he moved a bit ahead, he heard the light sounds of running water. Knowing the siblings would most likely stop there; Kurt found a place to hide in wait.

The siblings were not who he saw first though. An old, wicked looking woman stepped out of some bushes further away and started talking. Kurt strained his ears to listen. It sounded like she was cursing the brook or something. She definitely mentioned something about whoever drank from the water there would turn into a tiger. As quick as she had appeared she was soon gone. Not long after, the brother and sister appeared at the brook and ran over to it. Kurt had to make a quick decision. After all, he did not want either of the children to become a tiger! He was about to say something when he finally managed to catch clearer glimpses of their faces. Shock spread across his own face as the recognition hit him. Rachel Berry, a friend of his from high school, had shown him pictures of herself from her younger years before, and the little girl that was near him right now looked like she could be Rachel's twin. The boy's face took a bit longer to place, but the curls and hearing his voice earlier made it somewhat easier – Blaine.

Why exactly were little Rachel and little Blaine here, as siblings? Kurt pinched his self again just to make sure it still hurt. Yep, it did. Still not a dream.

The brother was stooping to drink now and there was no way Kurt was going to let the Blaine look-a-like turn into a tiger. So he whispered rather loudly, hoping the girl who was closer could hear him. "Whoever drinks here will become a tiger." And then he repeated it a few more times just in case.

The little girl must have heard him because she looked to her brother in fear and cried out for him to stop. "Please, brother, don't drink here! If you do you'll become a tiger and tear me to pieces!" Heck, the girl even sounded like Rachel Berry. The brother stood and agreed to not drink there, but he told her he was still really thirsty so he was going to drink at the next stream they found.

So onward they went, Kurt moving along, hidden, ahead of them. Once he spotted another little stream he hid in wait. Once more the old, wicked woman appeared and whispered at the water before disappearing. When the children arrived and the brother went to drink, Kurt repeated his same actions as before. He was starting to feel really silly about the whole thing, but one, he wasn't just going to let the brother turn into wild animals and hurt the little girl, and two, Kurt really did not want them to spot him considering his clothing was not exactly normal in this world as opposed to his. He whispered to the sister that whoever drank there would become a wolf. The sister was even more frightened by that. "Brother, don't drink here! Otherwise you'll become a wolf and eat me!" A slight look of annoyance passed over her brother's face but he nodded and stood from the stream, not taking a drink. He then told her that whenever they got to the next stream he was going to take a drink, no matter what, because he was super thirsty. They continued along their way then, Kurt once again moving ahead of them while remaining hidden.

A third stream was ahead of them and, just like before, Kurt reached it first and witnessed the old woman curse the water. As the children reached this little stream, Kurt quickly warned the sister once more, letting her know that if they drank from the water they would become a fawn. Despite what her brother had said before, the girl begged him not to drink from the stream. "Dearest brother, please don't drink! Or you'll become a fawn and run away from me!" This time, however, the brother just shook his head and got a drink of water. As soon as the water touched his lips he turned into a little fawn. His sister burst into tears and the fawn even shed a few tears as well. Kurt felt terrible because he should have done more to prevent this from happening.

"It's okay, brother," the girl spoke, "I won't ever leave you." She took her little belt off from around her waist and fastened it around the little fawn's neck. Then she took an old hair ribbon out of her pocket and tied it to the belt so she could lead the fawn along as they continued down the path. They went a ways longer, Kurt still following behind in secret, until they found an abandoned little house. The sister told the fawn that they were going to stay there always and she made a soft bed of moss and leaves for him to sleep on.

Now Kurt did not know what to do. It was getting dark out and spending the night outside was not exactly his idea of fun. Already he was a little annoyed over the fact that he had had to spend such a long amount of time outside without sunscreen or bug spray. He was pretty sure he had gotten bitten by a few flying insects or so. And he had none of his stuff for his moisturizing routine so that was going to have to get skipped, another thing that annoyed him greatly. His skin care was going to be so ruined by the time he was able to return home. It was too long of a walk to get back to the Tor so he was really starting to consider just going over and knocking on the door to the little house. Sitting down and leaning back against a tree, Kurt got comfortable and decided to wait for a bit. Eventually though his eyelids grew so heavy he closed them for just a few seconds...and then opened them to bright morning light and a pair of pretty hazel eyes staring down at him. It was the fawn, the little boy.

It took a second for Kurt's still foggy from sleep mind to process this fact. And then he yelled in surprise, trying to back away from it but only managing to press his self up closer against the rough bark of the tree he had fallen asleep against. The fawn was startled by Kurt's shout and shied away from him. The two stared at one another warily until rustling was heard and the little girl appeared. "Brother? I heard a shout...oh!" She had spotted Kurt and was giving him a look that was half fright half curiosity.

Kurt held his hands up to show he was defenseless. "I'm not going to hurt either of you, I swear. I'm just lost and fell asleep here last night."

The little girl still looked a bit frightened, but the fawn came close and placed its face close to Kurt's again, watching him. Then it proceeded to lie down right next to him, surprising Kurt and the girl quite a bit. "I guess he likes you. So you must not be too dangerous then. What's your name?"

Figuring it was at least a good thing the fawn had not decided to attack him or anything, Kurt let himself relax a bit. "I'm Kurt."

"I've never heard that name before." The girl told him. "I'm Rachel. I know you probably won't believe me, but that's my brother there, the fawn. His name's Blaine. He drank from this cursed spring and it turned him into a fawn."

Of course. Not only did they have to look like young little Rachel and Blaine, their names actually had to be Rachel and Blaine as well. Something odd was really going on. Feigning surprise – considering he had known about the cursed streams – Kurt looked down at the fawn that was lying next to him. "It didn't happen to be that stream that was a little ways back, was it? I came across that one in the afternoon yesterday and saw this old, scary looking lady cursing the water."

"I bet it was our wicked step mother!" The little girl exclaimed. "My brother and I were running away from her and she's trying to find us. She's really mean and beats us a lot so we decided to run away. Her daughter is this ugly little thing with only one eye and she calls us really mean things too. It was just horrible there. We had to get away, but now my brother is stuck as a fawn and I don't know how to change him back. So we're going to live here. You're welcome to join us if you'd like. You said you're lost; where are you from?"

Wicked step mothers...this was, like, directly from a fairy tale, Kurt thought. "I'm...really far from home." He replied. "Like...from across the ocean." Hopefully he would not have to explain more than that. Talking about being lost and far from home made him feel a bit sad. What if he was gone for a really long time? His father was going to be really upset. And at least Mercedes and Tina would miss him, maybe even Rachel. Karofsky would miss having his favorite person around to shove into lockers. Well, at least Kurt would not miss that part.

"That must be why you're dressed so differently. I don't really know how people dress across the ocean." The girl commented. "I'm sorry you're lost. You have me and Blaine now though, don't worry. Would you like to go inside? It looks like it's going to rain in a bit." Kurt nodded and stood, stretching and groaning a bit. His body ached from having slept on the ground all night. All three of them went into the little house and, sure enough, it started raining only shortly after they had shut the door.

Over the next couple of days the siblings grew more comfortable around Kurt. They asked a lot of questions though that were hard for Kurt to answer, considering he was pretty sure this world did not have internet, cell phones, television, or cars. One time he started singing while helping clean up the house a bit and the siblings were so enchanted they begged him to sing more often. He even taught the siblings a few songs so they could all sing together. They both had marvelous singing voices. It had surprised Kurt at first that the fawn could still talk, but then he had just accepted it because, by this point, he knew he pretty much had to expect stuff like that happened in this world.

A very long time past, years even, and Kurt was terrified he would never return home. Everyone in his world must have forgotten about him, except for his father of course. The odd thing was that even though the siblings grew older, Kurt did not. Even his hair seemed to have stopped growing. It was as if he had frozen in time. Not that he minded. Having to cut his hair here would be somewhat of a difficulty, considering they did not have scissors. And there was no way he could handle having long hair. Not for him, thanks.

One day, in the sister's seventeenth year, they heard the loud sounds of horns, dogs barking, and lots of men – huntsmen. Apparently the king of the country – King Finn - had ordered a great chase to be held in the wood. The fawn was quite excited by all the noise and longed to be in the midst of everything. He begged his sister to let him go out and run. Kurt tried to get Rachel to see that that was probably not a good idea, but Blaine begged so much that she gave in and let him go. Before he left however she warned him that she was going to keep the door shut fast against the huntsmen so if he wanted in he had to knock and say 'Let me in, little sister' so she and Kurt would know it was him. Blaine agreed to do that; then Rachel opened the door for him and off he went.

The fawn was gone for over an hour. Rachel and Kurt both feared for him as they stayed in the house listening to the sounds of the chase out in the woods. Thankfully they soon heard a knock on the door and heard Blaine's voice saying 'Let me in, little sister'. Rachel opened the door and in he came, looking well and unharmed. He told them all about how he had been spotted and the king and all his men had chased him for ages but could never catch him.

The next day they heard the sounds of the chase again and Blaine once again begged to be let out to run. Rachel let him out again and off he went. She and Kurt stayed inside and waited for the fawn to return. This time however, when he returned and was finally let inside, they saw he had been hurt. The fawn explained that he had been good for most of the day but towards the end they had surrounded him and one had wounded his foot. He had gotten away again but slower than normal. Rachel was terribly frightened and told him she did not want him going out again. Kurt helped her tend to Blaine's foot and then they ate dinner and went to sleep. Unknown to all of them however was the fact that one of the huntsmen had managed to follow Blaine all the way back to the house and had heard him speak before being let in. This man went and told the king right away about what he had seen and heard.

The next day, the fawn's foot had healed – for the injury had been minor – and he begged and pleaded so fiercely to be let out that the two finally gave in and let him go, despite their wary feelings towards doing so. The evening came and went and it was not until very late at night that they finally heard a voice asking to be let in. When they opened the door however it was not Blaine at all, but the king himself. Kurt about laughed hysterically when he saw that the king looked exactly like the Finn from his own world. Rachel was frightened and feared for her brother's life, but King Finn assured them both that the fawn was quite alright and should be back soon. Sure enough Blaine returned and bounded into the house. Kurt was standing between the siblings and the king, to protect them just in case, even though he knew there was not much he could do considering he did not know how to fight and had no weapons, but he ended up not needing to defend anyone. The king was friendly and he told Rachel she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and asked her to come back to his castle to be his wife. Rachel said she would but only if the fawn and Kurt could come too. After all, Kurt had been with them for years now and both Rachel and Blaine were quite fond of him, as if he was really part of their family. The king agreed and they all went to the castle.

Finn and Rachel were married only days after. Kurt actually enjoyed it all, considering he got to wear some rather interesting clothing. Despite how odd everything was to him being here, he could not help being interested by the fashions of this world. It probably did not matter what worlds he ended up in; he would still probably have to look at all the fashions.

After the wedding, the king and queen lived happily together. Kurt got to live in the castle with them as well, though he liked spending a lot of his time out tending to the fawn. Blaine was well cared for at the castle and a lot of the children loved to come and play with him. His favorite person to see though was Kurt. Whenever Kurt would come down to the special little barn built just for Blaine, the fawn would come running and jump happily about. He always begged Kurt to sing with him, because singing was quite a bit of fun and he thought their voices went well together. And then whenever Kurt had to go back into the castle, he would kiss the top of the fawn's head and then go on back inside. Sometimes Kurt would even go out to the little barn at night when he could not sleep. Once, when he was feeling particularly homesick, he went down, and when the fawn came over to nuzzle at his shoulder Kurt burst into tears and held him tightly until he could cry no more, falling asleep right there on the barn floor.

Unbeknownst to them, the siblings' wicked stepmother had found out about their good fortune and was beside herself with envy and hatred. Her ugly, one-eyed daughter was jealous and kept saying 'I should have been the one to be a queen.' Her mother told her to shush and wait, because she had a plan they just had to wait for the right time.

Time passed and eventually Rachel had a little son. The little boy was spoiled, especially by his uncle Kurt. One day, Finn was out hunting and Rachel was sick, so she was stuck in bed. Kurt was outside visiting and playing with Blaine. The siblings' stepmother appeared in the queen's room, disguised as a servant, and told her that they had made a bath for her that would help her get better faster. The stepmother's daughter was disguised as well and she helped carry the sick queen into the other room. There was no bath however, just a raging hot fire that suffocated Rachel quickly. After she was dead, the old lady had her own daughter get into the bed and disguised her as well as she could as Rachel. There was nothing she could do about the missing eye however so she just told her to turn her head to the side and hide that part of her face into the pillow so that King Finn would not notice it. Later when the king returned the old lady told him not to draw the curtains because the bright light would wake Rachel and she needed to rest. Finn went to sleep elsewhere and the old stepmother stayed where she was.

That night, while everyone was asleep, the usual nurse stayed up to watch the baby in his little room. She heard a noise by the door and saw the queen – the real Rachel, mind you – come into the room and walk over to the baby, lift him up to kiss his cheek and then laid him back down again. Then she left the room without saying a word, having not even glanced at the nurse.

Kurt had fallen asleep in the little barn that night, the fawn curled up nearby, and he was woken up by the sound of someone else entering. Opening his eyes he saw Rachel come in and go over to Blaine to stroke his back. Then she turned and left the room without ever once saying a word to Kurt or looking towards him. This confused Kurt greatly, because he knew Rachel was ill. She should not be out of bed to wander during the night. And she had ignored him completely. That just was not like her. He stood and looked outside the barn but was surprised to see Rachel was no where in sight. She must have moved fast. It was odd.

The next day Kurt asked if anyone else had seen the odd occurrence, but the only one who had was the baby prince's nurse. So they decided to move Blaine into the baby's room that night and wait together to see if the queen would come again. They would have talked to Rachel themselves but the old servant who was watching over her said that she was too ill to converse with anyone. Kurt found this oddly suspicious but everyone else seemed to believe her so he kept his suspicions to his self. That night as they sat in the room together, Rachel once more came into the room to hold her baby and then stroke the fawn's back. Never once did she say a word to the two others in the room. This happened for several more nights until finally, one night, the queen actually spoke. She came into the room and stood for a few seconds, speaking before going over to her baby. "How is my son? How is my fawn? I will come again twice more and then never again." Then she held her baby and stroked the fawn's back before disappearing from the room. Kurt and the nurse looked at each other then decided they better go tell the king.

Finn was very curious as to what was going on so he made the decision to sit in the baby's room himself that night. The nurse and Kurt both sat in with him as well to watch. As the night wore on the door opened and Rachel walked in. "How is my son? How is my fawn? I will come again once more and then never again." The king was somewhat frightened and could not answer her as she held the baby and stroked the fawn's back. After she was gone the king, Kurt, and the nurse all wondered at what was going on. The king decided he would sit in the room again the next night.

The next night they were in the room and the queen came once again. "How is my son? How is my fawn? I have come once more but never again." Before she could pick up her baby though the king stood and moved into her path, asking that she must be his own dear wife. She nodded and replied that yes she was. And at that moment she came back to life and was no longer ill as she had been before her death. Rachel explained to them what had happened, finally telling her husband about how her brother was actually the fawn, and Finn was furious. Kurt was, silently, not all too surprised about who had caused the trouble once he found out.

The next day they dragged the ugly daughter out of the queen's bed and grabbed the old servant, who was really the old stepmother, and placed them before the judge. He condemned the daughter to be cast out to the woods forever and the old stepmother was to be burned. This took place then, as everyone watched in the courtyard. Kurt himself did not watch the burning – the sight would probably have made him ill – so he just stood off to the side, the fawn standing next to him. Once it seemed the witch was dead, Kurt turned to head back into the castle when he heard a voice next to him.

"Hey! I'm me again!" Kurt turned and, sure enough, the curse over Blaine must have broken with the witch's death. Blaine was no longer a fawn but his normal twenty year old self. Rather attractive twenty year old self, Kurt could not help thinking. Blaine looked exactly like the Blaine Kurt knew from his own world, just slightly older. And unfortunately he was lacking clothing which made Kurt blush quite a bit. He pulled his long coat off and held it out to Blaine, making sure he kept his eyes averted. Blaine thanked him and after he was covered they went to find Rachel. When she saw her brother she recognized him immediately and was absolutely delighted.

There was quite the celebration that night. The queen was alright and her brother was his normal self again. The celebration lasted for hours and Kurt found himself to tire of it all rather quickly. He escaped, making his way to the little barn where he had spent so much time the past few months. He was sitting outside of it, leaning back against the wooden wall to watch the stars, when he heard someone approaching. Blaine sat down next to him, so close their shoulders and legs were pressed together. Kurt was glad it was dark out because hopefully that meant Blaine could not see how red his face had gotten. He was not used to someone being this close to him, especially an attractive guy like Blaine. "Do you think you'll ever get back home?" Blaine asked quietly. Kurt shook his head and replied that he had no clue. Then he felt a warm hand in his and Blaine's head on his shoulder. "If it counts for anything...I don't want you to leave. You're my best friend, Kurt. I'd miss you." Kurt could feel his eyes tearing up a bit and tried to discreetly use his free hand to wipe a stray tear away.

A few days later Kurt asked Blaine to come into the woods with him. He wanted to try and find the Tor again. It had been such a long time, but Kurt knew they could find it. Blaine agreed to come along and so they told Rachel where they were going and then left. Kurt changed back into his clothing from his own world before leaving; though he brought an outfit of his nice clothing from this world, just in case he ended up in another world that he could use them in. Rachel had wanted to come along, fearing that Kurt might leave and she would not get to say goodbye, but they told her it would be okay – Kurt was not sure the Tor would even work anyway – plus she had to stay with her son.

Not long into their trek through the woods, Blaine and Kurt came upon their little house from before. They went in to look about, to remember it all, and then they continued on their way. They passed the third stream where Blaine had become a fawn. Kurt told him he remembered there were three streams he had passed after having left the little gray room. As they passed the second stream, Blaine took Kurt's hand in his own, holding it tightly. He did not want Kurt to leave and knew that as they grew closer to this Tor thing they grew closer to him losing Kurt, most likely forever. After having passed the first stream, Kurt kept more on the look out. The Tor was off the path slightly so they would have to leave the path eventually, he just needed to remember where. It seemed like no matter how far they went Kurt just could not recognize where he may have came from in the woods. They stopped at a bend in the road and Kurt took his frustration out on a branch that was lying there, kicking it off to the side. That was when he remembered how the first time he saw the siblings the girl had tripped on a branch at a bend in the road. Excited because he now had a general idea of where he was, Kurt took Blaine's hand and dragged him off the path in the direction in which he was sure he had come from. Their going was slower now due to the greater amount of trees and plants blocking their way, but they kept on going. It felt like an hour had passed before they stopped. Kurt was feeling somewhat defeated – he was pretty darn sure it had not taken an hour to reach the siblings voices when he had heard them upon first arriving. Retracing their steps, Kurt was about to give up when he saw something odd. Off to the right a bit it looked like a whole bunch of vines was growing up something. Whatever it was it was not a tree. They went over to inspect and Kurt saw what looked to be a gray wall behind the vines. Moving around the wall of vines he continued searching until he found what he was looking for. A door.

"We found it!" Kurt exclaimed. "I guess once we get rid of some of these vines I can see if it works." Blaine was oddly silent behind him and when Kurt turned he caught the older man trying to discreetly wipe his eyes. "Oh...Blaine, are you crying? Don't do that..." Kurt went over to him and brushed a stray tear away. It was funny how even though Blaine was older, Kurt was still taller than him.

"I don't want you to leave..." Blaine reached out, wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist tightly, burying his face against Kurt's shoulder. Kurt was surprised but he could not move away, and found that he did not want to, so he placed his own arms around Blaine and held him. "Can you come back to visit?"

Kurt knew if he prolonged testing out the Tor then he might not be able to make himself leave. Not with seeing how sad Blaine was. It tugged at his heartstrings and was going to make him cry as well. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to come back, Blaine...but if I can find a way then I will. I promise." It made him feel terrible promising that, because he knew he had no control over the Tor so unless it decided it wanted Kurt to come back here he most likely never would. "Tell Rachel I love her and thank you for being so good to me these past several years. Okay?" Blaine nodded against him in response. "And thank you, Blaine, for being my best friend here. I'm going to miss you most of all. I...I love you." Kurt whispered softly, kissing the top of Blaine's head.

Blaine managed to pull away from Kurt, wiping the tears away from his eyes. He pulled Kurt's face towards his to give him a soft kiss on the cheek. Kurt's face went bright red. "I love you too, Kurt." He responded quietly. Taking a deep breath, Blaine let go of him and backed away, going over to yank some of the vines away from the door. "You should go now before I change my mind and don't let you leave ever."

Kurt moved to the door and opened it. Inside was the same as he remembered it, empty and gray. "Blaine, I-"

"No, Kurt. Go." Blaine responded forcefully, sadly, pressing a hand to Kurt's back and shoving him into the Tor.

The door slammed shut behind Kurt, closing him off from Blaine. "Okay, the shoving was so uncalled for!" Kurt shouted back, huffing. Then he stood there, waiting to see if anything was going to happen. Seconds passed and nothing seemed to be happening. Kurt felt no movement and heard no sounds. After a while he just gave up and went back over to the door to open it. It was locked. Great. "Blaine!" He called out, hoping Blaine could hear him if he was still there. No one answered him. Maybe sound could not reach Kurt through the walls, and vice versa. Well then. Kurt kicked the door angrily then went over to sit against one of the walls. Almost as soon as he sat down he felt a soft breeze.

Turning his head, Kurt saw that the door had opened.


	3. The Three Lazybones

When Kurt stepped out of the Tor this time he found he was in the middle of a courtyard near a big castle. Wow, like no one would notice him now. Luckily though it seemed there was no one around. Figuring he was going to have to leave the Tor, Kurt quickly changed into the clothing he had brought with him from the other world. Those would help him blend in more. Unsure of where he should go, and a little disappointed he had not stepped back out either into the woods or the attic of the library, Kurt shut the door behind him and wandered off. He had a feeling the Tor was not going to work for him again until something happened, so there was no point in trying it again until he explored. Obviously he had stopped at this world for a reason.

A light rain started falling and Kurt, not wanting his hair to get messed up, ran for the covering of one of the walkways that led into the castle. Since the rain seemed like it was not going to let up for a while, Kurt continued on into the castle. Maybe he could find someone and see if they would help him out. There definitely were not a lot of people about in this world. As he went down a darkened corridor, Kurt only passed one person and it was a maid of some sort. She kept her head down and only paused to curtsy to Kurt in passing. Her actions surprised him for a second, but then he remembered he was wearing some rather nice clothing from the previous world so he probably looked more important than he really was. Ah well, maybe that would help him out in the long run. As he went to turn into another hallway, he ran right into another person.

"Ouch!" The other person, a boy, exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

Kurt's nose had been bumped and it hurt a bit, but other than that he was sure he was fine. Though his heart about stopped when he saw who he had run into. Blaine. Yet, at the same time, it was not the same Blaine as before. This Blaine had shorter hair, though still curly, and seemed to be more around Kurt's age instead of twenty. "I'm alright...I didn't mean to bump into you."

"I'm sure you didn't." The boy laughed. Then he stopped laughing rather abruptly and looked about guiltily as if he should not be caught doing so. "Oh...your nose is bleeding. Let's get something to fix that." Kurt was confused but then he felt something on his upper lip and when he placed a finger there it came away red with blood. Ew.

The boy grabbed Kurt's hand and tugged him along down the hallway until they reached a room. Once inside, the boy shut the door and made Kurt sit on a wooden chair. He went over and grabbed a cloth, dampening it in a bucket of water before coming back over to sit next to Kurt, holding the cloth out. "Here you go. Hold this under your nose and tilt your head back. It should help."

Kurt had been looking about the room as Blaine had gone to get the cloth. It looked like some sort of medicine room or something. Like an olden time doctor's office. He thanked Blaine for the cloth and pressed it under his nose, tilting his head back. "So...what is with all this stuff?"

"It's the nurse's room. My father is really ill, close to his deathbed even, and so we brought a nurse in to see if she could help heal him."

"Oh." Kurt figured that must have been why the boy looked so guilty about laughing earlier – it was hard to be cheerful about when someone you loved was sick and close to dying. Being happy and having fun could make you feel guilty alright. "I'm sorry to hear that."

The boy gave him a slightly odd look. "I'm kind of surprised...I mean, almost everyone knows the king is ill. How come you're only now hearing about it?"

"I'm not from around here." Kurt replied. "I'm sort of...lost, you could say."

"You're dressed pretty nicely for someone who is lost." The boy pointed out.

Kurt figured he had a point there, but it was better wearing these clothes than having to explain where his original clothing came from. "Well, I'm from a very nice, important family, you see. I was waylaid by some robbers and had to walk for days. It started raining when I arrived here so I just sort of wandered in. I'm very sorry for intruding." Yeah, thank goodness he was capable of making up stories as he went.

"Eh, it's alright." The boy shrugged. "It's kind of exciting in a way. Like some awesome adventure tale. Things are pretty boring around here, even when my father wasn't ill, so it's nice to have something interesting happen here. I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune though. I'm sure it's alright for you to stay for a while. I'm Blaine, by the way."

Of course. Was this going to happen in every world he visited? "Thanks." Kurt responded. "It'll be nice to be inside for a while now. The outdoors can get old pretty quick." Not to mention it was terrible for his skin. "I'm Kurt."

"That's a cool name." Blaine commented. Then he leaned right on over and lightly took the damp cloth from Kurt's hand. "Let's see how that nose is doing." Kurt tilted his head forward again and was glad to see his nose had stopped bleeding. "Well, that's good."

"Thanks." Kurt smiled. At least all these Blaine guys from different worlds were nice...and terribly attractive. Okay, he had to stop thinking about that.

"You're welcome." Blaine stood and went over to place the cloth in a bucket that held other used cloths. Then he went back over to Kurt. "Want to meet my brothers?"

Kurt was kind of worried about who these brothers were, in relation to his own world, because something told him that he was going to run into a lot of look-a-likes throughout his journey. "Sure..."

They stood and Blaine led the way out of the room and through another hallway. Once they reached another room they heard two voices coming from inside. Kurt's feelings about seeing more look-a-likes were confirmed when he finally saw Blaine's two brothers. The eldest introduced himself as Finn and the middle brother introduced himself as Puck. Kurt had half expected a Puck look-a-like to have a mohawk but was surprised to see Puck instead had a full head of hair. It looked really odd on him. Blaine introduced Kurt to his brothers and explained his situation. Both of the brothers felt bad for Kurt and told him he was welcome to stay. Then the nurse came into the room and said that their father wished to see them for he was very ill and would not make it through the night. Blaine looked more upset of the three and he dragged Kurt along with them, holding Kurt's hand tightly for comfort. It was really odd to Kurt how trusting Blaine was of him so quickly, but the boy was upset and Kurt figured if he could help comfort him then he was going to do so.

They went into the king's room and went to his bedside. Kurt stayed by the doorway because he felt awkward intruding on their private conversation. He could still hear them talking though and what he heard he found quite interesting.

The king told them that since he could not figure out which one of them should become king after him, he had a devised a plan. Whichever of the three brothers could prove themselves the laziest of the three would become king.

Finn, being the oldest, spoke first. He told his father that he was so lazy that no matter how tired he was, and even if something were to fall into his eyes, he would not shut them even if by doing so he could go to sleep. Kurt thought that was pretty lazy, and kind of stupid.

Then Puck spoke after Finn, sounding pretty darn confident. He explained to his father that he was the laziest because when he sits by the fire to get warm he would rather let his heels burn then pull back his legs. Kurt also found that to be quite lazy, though even more stupid than Finn's claim.

Finally it was Blaine's turn. And despite the sad look upon his face, and the fact that he would rather one of his brothers have the throne rather than his self, he spoke up as well. "Father, even if I was about to be hanged, the rope about my neck and all, and someone gave me a knife so that I may cut myself free, I'd sooner be hung than raise my hand to my neck." Kurt did not like even thinking about Blaine dying. That was terribly lazy and stupid. He should save himself.

The king had silently listened to his three sons respond and only spoke after having heard Blaine's claim. "Blaine, you have gone the farthest and, therefore, you will become king after I die."

Blaine did not look too terribly thrilled about this fact. His older brothers seemed somewhat disappointed, but as they all loved one another they would follow him and, if needed, help him if he needed it. After they finished talking, the king told them he needed to rest so they all left the room.

Finn and Puck both disappeared and Blaine led Kurt off to wander. He looked completely lost in thought and was sighing quite a bit. Finally Kurt could not stand the loud sighs anymore and grabbed hold of Blaine's arm to stop him to talk. He asked Blaine what was wrong. Blaine explained that he felt too young to lead their country and that it would probably be best if either Finn or Puck took his place. Kurt thought about it for a few seconds then shook his head. "No, I bet you'll be a great leader. And your brothers will be more than willing to help you if you need it, so you'll have plenty of support." He remembered what the Blaine from his world had told him shortly after they had met for the first time. "Just remember: courage." Kurt smiled to himself as he spoke. "Believe in yourself and you'll be great."

Blaine was silent for a bit as they continued walking. "Thanks, Kurt." He finally spoke. "I guess you're right. I just have to believe in myself. And it's not like I'll be all on my own."

They found themselves in the courtyard, the same courtyard Kurt had arrived in earlier. Before Kurt could say anything, Blaine had spotted the Tor and was giving it a curious look. "What's that?" He went over to examine it and Kurt only stopped him when he saw Blaine was going for the door. Not good.

Blaine took a step from the door when Kurt shouted at him and ran over to get between him and the door. "What's wrong, Kurt?"

"Uh..." How was he going to explain this? "It could be...dangerous inside. I figure since you're more important than I am and all...I should probably look inside first." That had to work.

No such luck. "No way." Blaine shook his head, trying to push Kurt aside to get to the door. "I'm not letting you get hurt. I'll even hold the door open for you, but I'm going inside first."

"How chivalrous," Kurt rolled his eyes, "but you're going to be a king and I'm just a random guy you don't really know and not worth as much. So I'm going in first." He turned and put his hand on the door handle. Before he turned it though he looked back to Blaine and smiled. "It was nice meeting you, by the way." And with that he opened the door and slipped inside, closing it tightly before Blaine could get in.

This time he heard a rather audible clicking sound as the door locked behind him. Now all he had to do was wait.


	4. Doctor Knowall

This time when Kurt left the Tor he really had to wonder at it's idea of a good landing spot. When he stepped out of the gray room he found himself in someone's actual house; the basement to be exact. He was just about to go back into the Tor when the basement door opened and a man came down the stairs. The man and Kurt looked at one another for a second in startled surprise, and then the man finally spoke. "Who are you?"

Wow, this was awkward. How was he supposed to explain this? "My name's Kurt." He replied. "And I know this'll sound really weird, but I'm not from...around here, and my, er, traveling device seemed to think it was a good idea to land in your basement."

The man gave him an odd look but then burst out laughing. "Weird. What sort of traveling device is that? It looks like a huge gray box."

"To be honest I have no idea." Kurt replied, glad the man wasn't threatening to kick him out or anything yet. "Um...so I can't leave again because it only works when it wants to and that's going to be a while. I don't suppose you would mind me leaving it in your basement for a while?"

"Eh, go ahead. Not much I can do about it." The man laughed. "I'm Crab, by the way; known around these parts as Dr. Knowall. I've seen weirder things so a kid showing up in my basement by way of gray box isn't the weirdest thing. Why don't you stay upstairs though until it's ready to leave again? My wife, Gretel, won't mind."

Kurt had to question this guy's smarts for a second. If he were in Crab's spot he would have been really wary about some kid just showing up in his basement. Either way, it would be nice to not have to stay in the gray room until he had to leave again, plus obviously something was going to happen if the Tor had had him stop here.

They went upstairs and the doctor explained things to his wife. She seemed somewhat confused still, but just shrugged and made up the guest room for Kurt. Over the next couple of days Kurt watched as the doctor took care of his patients. Some times Kurt had to wonder if the guy even knew what he was doing. One day a nobleman showed up in a fancy carriage and explained that he had had a great deal of money stolen from him. Someone had informed him that a Doctor Knowall from this village would know what had become of his money. Once the nobleman knew Crab was the doctor, he asked him to come back to his castle. The doctor agreed but only on the condition that his wife and his nephew, Kurt, would come along with. Crab and Gretel had been telling people that Kurt was their nephew who had come to live with them after the death of his parents. The story had helped explained Kurt's sudden appearance. The nobleman agreed and so the four of them went off to the castle.

When they arrived a great dinner was laid out and the doctor was invited to sit to it. He replied that he would only do so if Gretel and Kurt could as well. So the three of them sat at the table and when the first servant arrived with their food, the doctor told them that 'this is the first' meaning the first course. The servant was afraid though; because he was the first thief, and went back to tell the other servants that the doctor indeed knew everything and that they were in quite a bit of trouble. The second servant was scared to go in but he had to, so he went in to set down more food. The doctor informed his wife and Kurt that 'this is the second' and the servant grew even more terrified and hurriedly left the room. The third servant fared no better. When the fourth servant went in the nobleman asked the doctor to show off his skill and guess what was under the covered dish. The doctor had no clue and, feeling quite distressed, shook his head saying 'poor Crab, poor Crab', meaning himself. Ironically, the food under the dish was indeed crab, much to both the doctor and Kurt's surprise. The nobleman was quite impressed and even surer now that the doctor would be able to know who had stolen the money. Kurt was feeling a little bad for the doctor now because surely he could not know who had stolen the money. It had to have just been a lucky guess about the crab.

Then the doctor was summoned from the room and Kurt and Gretel were left to wonder what was going on. When Crab returned however he looked quite pleased with himself. He informed the nobleman that he would consult his book and then reveal where the money was hidden. As he was looking through the book however he seemed to look somewhat confused and at one point muttered quite loudly 'I know you're here; so you better come out of hiding." To everyone's surprise a fifth servant, looking absolutely terrified, popped out from behind a stove and cried out that the doctor 'certainly knew everything'. Kurt now really wondered if the doctor was just having lucky guesses or if he really did have ways of knowing things.

The doctor then showed them all where the real money was hidden. The only problem was that the thieves had lost the key to the lock for the chest they had hidden the money in. While they all tried to find a solution, Kurt placed his hand in his pocket and felt the silver key that was still there. Not entirely sure if this key was meant for the chest or not, Kurt tried it in the lock. Surprisingly the key fit and the chest was unlocked. He hid the key again and then told the doctor to try the lock again. The doctor was pleasantly surprised, although confused, when the lock opened and they could finally get the money out. The nobleman was pleased and gave the doctor a great reward. Afterward, Crab, Gretel, and Kurt returned to their home. Only a day later the doctor received even more money though it was not from the king. Confused, Kurt asked him where the extra money had come from. The doctor happily explained that when he had been summoned from the dinner at the castle the servants had told him they were the ones to have stolen the money and that if he did not turn them in they would give him a nice reward. Kurt was impressed, though he probably would have, if it was his decision, turned the thieves in anyway. Now the doctor and his wife were extremely rich and famous though so they were not going to complain.

That night, Kurt was asleep in the guest room when he felt the house starting to shake violently. The sky outside seemed darker than ever and an odd breeze blew through the open window. It was just like when he had been with the two old brothers. They had said it was the Witch. Maybe she had found him again? She wanted his key...maybe because he had used it she found him. He had to get out of here. Running down the stairs, intent upon heading for the basement, Kurt ran into Crab and his wife who were trying to get out of the house to keep from getting hurt by falling objects or possibly even the roof. They told him he had to get out too but he explained that he had to get to the basement and to his gray box. Crab tried to stop him but just then the front door flew off its hinges and the tall form of the Witch appeared in the doorway. Kurt made a run for it and fled down the basement steps. Horrible screams could be heard coming from the upstairs and when Gretel's scream was cut off with a loud choking sound Kurt knew the Witch was not being merciful. Tears sprang to his eyes as he paused and turned, briefly considering going back up to help his friends. By this point though he could no longer hear their screaming and he knew it was too late. The house was still shaking quite a bit and groaning loudly. It was only a matter of time before it collapsed. Kurt ran to the Tor and threw open the door, jumping inside and slamming it shut behind him. Then he collapsed and leaned with his back against the door, hoping it would lock and stay closed so the Witch could not get in. Something heavy hit the door but the thumping noise was swallowed by the deafening silence that lived in the gray room. Again something heavy hit the door and Kurt shut his eyes tightly. Most people probably would have been praying to God by this point, but Kurt was not really a believer so he just hoped to Gaga that he would remain safe in this room.

He stayed sitting against the door for over an hour or two at the least. Nothing else had hit the door since the last thump. Kurt wondered if it was safe to go out, but he was exhausted and instead just lay down and closed his eyes. At least he was safe in here. Now that he could think about things more with a less panicked mind, he was kind of surprised to realize that Blaine had not been in the last world. There had not even been a look-a-like from his world there. Ah well. Moments later he was drifting off to sleep, figuring he could see where he was later after some rest.


	5. Odds and Ends

Kurt must have slept at least a couple hours or so before finally awaking. He sat up and stretched, his back cracking a bit. Everything from the night before came back to him and he sat for a minute or two, feeling sad about the terrible fates Crab and Gretel must have faced. All because of him and this stupid little key. What was so special about it anyway? It had opened that chest before, but that could not be the only thing it was for, could it? He had to find out at some point. Groaning due to his aching back, Kurt stood and opened the door. The Tor had chosen a more normal spot this time to land, or appear, whatever it did. It stood in a small, pretty clearing, a little cottage close by. The cottage looked friendly enough so Kurt decided to go over and knock on the door. A very pretty lady opened the door and gave him a curious look. Kurt could not speak for a second because he was surprised. It was Brittany; or, a Brittany look-a-like. "Hello, I'm sorry to be a bother, but I'm lost and could use a place to stay for a short while."

The lady looked him over and thought about it. "Well, alright. Can you clean? I could use someone to help out about the house. I'm Brittany." Yep, Kurt was totally expecting that name.

"I can definitely clean." Kurt replied. Even if he did not like getting dirty he could handle cleaning here until he figured out when he could leave in the Tor again. "I'm Kurt."

Brittany took a step back and let Kurt come inside. She told him how her last maid-servant had been utterly hopeless and so she had had to be rid of her. Brittany had Kurt help clean up a little bit and then they had dinner. Kurt was kind of glad to see this Brittany was not much like the Brittany from his world; except for the talk about mice and other animals all the time. For some reason she kept telling him about all the mice that would spend the night but would never clean up after themselves before leaving. They were not even nice enough to say goodbye. She would always say odd things about animals acting like people.

The next day Brittany sat at her spinning wheel for a while. Kurt had fun watching her and after a bit asked if she would teach him. After all, how much harder could it be from using a sewing machine? Well, a lot more work was involved, but Kurt was pretty sure he could manage. As Brittany taught him how to use the spinning wheel, and how to take care of the material, she told him about how she was to be married in a few weeks time to a very nice man who was known as Lord Blaine. Kurt had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing a little bit when the thought of the Brittany and Blaine from his world getting married popped into his head. Brittany even told him he could come to the wedding if he would like. Kurt smiled and said he would definitely attend and he was sure she would make a very good bride.

It did not take Kurt long to get quite good at using the spinning wheel. Whenever he was not cleaning or taking care of things about the cottage he would practice. Brittany knew how to spin, but she tended to be rather idle and careless so her work took a lot longer. Whenever knots would be in the flax, she would just tear them out and throw them to the side instead of unraveling the stuff. Kurt would take them and fix them properly, washing them and spinning them and would put them to use for his own outfit he was making. After all, he was not just going to learn spinning for nothing. He wanted to have something to show for all his hard work. Three weeks before the wedding another girl came to help out at the cottage. Her name was Tina, and, yes, she did indeed happen to be a Tina look-a-like from Kurt's world. She was very pretty and just as hard working as Kurt was. They helped her learn how to spin as well so they could all work together. She took odds and ends as well to help make a pretty dress in time for the wedding.

When the eve of the wedding came there was a great party to celebrate. Kurt and Tina danced together for most of the night as Brittany spent it with her future husband, who did indeed was a Blaine look-a-like. At one point Brittany commented on Kurt and Tina's outfits to Blaine. "Look how they dance like happy hens, dressed in my cast-off odds and ends." Blaine was confused and asked her exactly what she meant. Brittany explained how they had made their pretty outfits out of her own discarded bits of flax. When he heard that and found how idle she must be, compared to her two servants, he left her and went over to Kurt and Tina.

Blaine explained that he could not be Brittany's wife and would have Tina instead. Kurt was somewhat confused by this turn of events, but Tina was rather thrilled and accepted. Brittany was rather upset and confused by all of this but there was nothing she could do to change Blaine's mind so she took Kurt and left. Kurt let himself be dragged along until they reached the little cottage. Sad, Brittany told him she was going off for a little walk and that she would be back later. Kurt said okay and that he would wait up for her. Hours dragged by and Kurt grew worried. He went outside the cottage and called loudly for her but heard no reply. Even more concerned, Kurt grabbed a lamp and lit a candle, going out to wander a little bit, but not too far he would get lost. Eventually he came across a small lake surrounded by tons of tall trees. It looked like something was floating off to the one side of the lake. Holding his lamp up a bit he gasped when he realized it was Brittany. Had she really...oh Gaga. She really had. Kurt bit his lip and went over to the side of the lake she was at. Brittany was face down in the water, her long, blond curls floating every which way as was her dress. Setting his lamp down, Kurt reached down and managed to grab her arm. It took a bit but he finally dragged her out of the lake. Despite knowing it was no use by this point, Kurt tried using CPR on her. Nothing happened. This was unfair. How come people kept dying now in all these adventures? Was it because he was here? He did not belong in these worlds; maybe his presence was throwing things off and causing all these terrible accidents. Brittany probably would have been fine if it had not been for him showing up.

In the morning Kurt, who was not the biggest fan of heavy manual labor such as digging, dug a hole in the backyard behind the cottage and buried Brittany. He even planted pretty flowers around the grave. Not believing in God, and not knowing what else to say, Kurt just stood by the foot of her grave and told her that he hoped she rest peacefully in death. He even shed a few tears for his friend.

Afterward he departed from the cottage, heading for the Tor. Opening the door he went inside and shut himself in, hoping that it would take him far away. He was not entirely sure why he had had to come to this world, but now all he wanted to do was leave it. A sigh of relief escaped him when he heard the sound of the lock clicking. Who knew where he would end up next, but Kurt was really starting to hope it would be the attic, because he did not want to have to bury another one of his friends.


	6. The Riddle Story

_This tale is pretty short, but it was kind of fun to write. Except the ending which made me a little sad, but I won't tell you why. Haha. _

_This story is really a riddle, the original Grimm's 'Riddle Story' was barely even a page long in my book. Please feel free to solve it out, it's really not all that difficult. I'd love to hear your guesses...and no that's not just a shameless plead for reviews. Haha, well, maybe, but what can I say? Reviews make me happy! And I love all of you who have read this far. Really. Thank you all!_

* * *

><p>Kurt left the Tor to find himself in the middle of a field. The sun was shining brightly down upon him and he could hear birds singing in the distance. At one end of the field a small house stood. Knowing how things went by this point Kurt figured he had no choice but to go to the small house. When he made it he knocked in the front door. The door opened and he came face to face with another Blaine look-a-like. "Why, hello! We don't get many visitors around here. Are you a traveler?" He invited Kurt in and let him sit in the house's main room. A pretty lady walked into the room, politely covering her mouth when she coughed. Kurt thought she looked rather ill. The man introduced himself as Blaine and he told Kurt that his wife was rather ill but not contagious so it was safe to be in the house. Kurt introduced himself and explained that he was just traveling to visit some relatives and got lost. Blaine and his wife invited him to spend the night, explaining that it would not be safe to be out after dark since thieves were out and about in these parts.<p>

That night two robbers came to the house and broke in. Kurt and Blaine both made it downstairs to try and kick them out; Blaine's wife following down the stairs slowly behind them to see what was going on. It seemed like the robbers were going to get the best of them but what Blaine had forgot to mention to Kurt before was that his wife knew some magic. She was ill but had enough energy to change the two robbers into identical flowers. Unfortunately Blaine got caught in the path of the spell was turned into the same looking flower as well. To keep them alive Kurt planted the two flowers that had been the robbers outside of the house, a little bit into the field where the earth was good for plants to grow. Now they did not know what to do, because Blaine's wife had used up her energy and could not get out of bed, and she could not remember how to change them back.

Kurt was sure this was the oddest situation he had been in so far. He figured his objective at being here now was to somehow figure out how to change Blaine at least back into his normal self. The robbers could probably stay as they were so they could no longer cause anyone any trouble. Grabbing a really small flower pot, Kurt planted the flower that had been Blaine into it and set it on their wooden table in the kitchen. He spent the next day trying to figure out if there was anything in the house that could help him figure out how to change Blaine back. That night he was sitting in their main room when he saw Blaine walk in. Confused, Kurt asked him how he was back to normal. Blaine explained that he was only able to turn back at night. In the morning he would have to go out to the field with the others because the flower pot was not big enough for him. He told Kurt though that if, in the morning, he went out and gathered Blaine from the field then he would be released from the spell.

So in the morning after Blaine had went to the field and had become a flower again, Kurt went out and, despite all three flowers being identical and all three being clustered together in the same spot, gathered the correct flower from the field so Blaine would be released from the spell.

A few days later Blaine's wife was well again and they said thanks and farewell to Kurt as he said he must be on his way. As he walked towards the middle of the field and reached the Tor, the ground started to shake beneath him and heavy black clouds started rolling in across the sky. Knowing exactly what it meant, and not wanting to stick around to see what sort of destruction might follow in the Witch's wake, Kurt quickly opened the door and shut himself inside to await for the clicking sound of the lock that meant he was leaving this world.

Now, ask yourself, how did Kurt know exactly which flower was Blaine, considering all three were alike and clustered together?


	7. The Old Woman in the Woods

This time Kurt wasted no time in leaving the Tor. He just wanted to be back in the attic but, no, he found his self once more in a wooded area. In his frustration he kicked a nearby tree. Then he felt stupid for acting out like that, like a little kid. He just had to take a deep breath and keep going. That was the only way. There had to be a point to all of this besides running from the Witch who wanted the silver key and spending his time in each world, helping people or doing whatever he was supposed to be doing. The bigger question was: why him? And why was Blaine in almost every single adventure?

Loud screams and yelling suddenly interrupted his thoughts and he cautiously made his way through the trees to see what was going on. Hiding behind some trees he spotted a band of what looked to be robbers attacking a carriage full of people. His stomach lurched at the bloodshed and he swore to himself right then and there he was never watching movies with this much gore in it ever again. One last person – a girl – tried to escape but was caught and killed as well. Once everyone was dead the robbers took everything they wanted and left. Kurt waited in hiding for almost a good hour just to take make sure they were all gone before he moved again. The smell of blood was reaching his nose and after a few more minutes his stomach could not take it anymore and he threw up, leaning against a tree for support until he was finished. When he was finished his wipe his mouth with his sleeve, glad it wasn't his normal clothing, and left in the opposite direction, not wanting to be near that sight again.

After a while it became evening and he found himself quite lost. He had found no other signs of human life since the robber attack and he was quite hungry. Sitting down to lean against a tree, Kurt sighed and figured he may as well just stay there for the night. Either he would finally find other people in the morning or he would just have to find the Tor again and see if it would take him elsewhere. Otherwise he might perish and that was not something he wanted to think about. Not shortly after he had sat down, a small white dove flew near with a small golden key in its beak. Dropping the key into Kurt's hand, the dove explained – yes, by this point Kurt was no longer bothered by talking animals – that in the one nearby tree there was a lock in the bark. Inside was food and drink that never wasted or ran out. Then the dove flew off. Kurt stood and went over to the tree the dove had indicated and found the lock. When it opened Kurt found there was indeed food and drink inside. After he ate and drank a bit, he yawned and wondered if he should just stay there for the night. The dove appeared again and gave him another small golden key. This time the dove explained that in another tree Kurt would find a bed to sleep in. After it had left, Kurt unlocked the second tree and found a soft white bed. Glad he was not going to have to spend the night on the hard ground again; Kurt got into the bed and fell fast asleep. In the morning the dove came a third time and gave him another key to another tree. Inside was extremely nice clothing so he could change. Kurt was rather impressed with the make of the clothing. It all looked fit for a prince or king.

Kurt spent almost three weeks living like this, the dove returning every day to see how he was doing. They became quite good friends even. The first time Kurt started to suspect something was up was when the dove told him his name one day. Kurt had already told the dove his own name but had never gotten the dove's in return – for surely the dove must have a name as well? And it did. Blaine.

So was Blaine really an animal this time or was it like back in his first adventure when Blaine had become a fawn? If so then Kurt knew he was here to help Blaine regain his human form.

One day the dove appeared and asked Kurt to do something for his sake. Kurt replied that he would do anything for him and so the dove explained what he wanted Kurt to do. There was a little house that he would lead Kurt to that Kurt had to enter. Inside would be an old lady sitting who would say good day to him. Kurt must not say a word to her at all but just pass by her right-hand side and go into a little room. In the room would be dozens of pretty rings of all styles, but he was to ignore them all and just look for a small plain one that he had to bring back to the dove.

Kurt thought this all sounded easy enough – even though he had some slight reservations about pretty much breaking into an old lady's home - so he followed the dove to the little house. Once there he entered and saw the old woman. She stared at him and bade him good day, but Kurt spoke not a word. Spotting the door to the next room, Kurt continued on walking by her. The old lady leapt from her chair and seized the back of his shirt yelling that he was not allowed to go in there because she had not given him permission to do so. Kurt managed to yank his shirt from her grasp, still saying nothing, and continued into the next room. There he found all the rings mentioned but not the small plain one. As he continued looking about he spotted the old lady trying to creep away. In her hand she held a birdcage. Suspicious of her behavior, Kurt went over and, despite her protests, took the cage from her hand. Inside was a small bird and held in the bird's beak was the plain ring.

Kurt took the ring and ran from the house; quite pleased he had managed to do what the dove – Blaine – had wanted. Of course he was a bit scared that the old lady would come after him, but it seemed once he had reached the familiar trees that she was not following him so he was safe. Now he just had to wait for the dove to the return. Time went by and darkness was starting to fall but the dove never appeared.

Starting to grow rather worried, Kurt made to move from the tree he was leaning against when he felt two branches wrap around his waist. Scared, he struggled against them until he realized they were no longer tree branches but arms. Confused, Kurt turned his head and realized it was Blaine. Well, a Blaine look-a-like. Their close proximity had Kurt's face turning red, but it was thankfully hard to see in the darkening woods. "You saved me from the old lady, who is really a wicked witch." Blaine explained. "She turned me into a tree a while ago, but every day for two hours I became a white dove. As long as she had that ring I could not turn back into a human. Thank you for helping me."

Kurt managed to squeak out a 'you're welcome, it was no problem' and also managed to extract himself from Blaine's embrace. He – Kurt – was seemingly the only one who had been uncomfortable about that at least. Though as uncomfortable as he had been he could not deny it had felt nice to be in Blaine's arms. The surrounding trees around them suddenly turned into some other men and some horses. They were Blaine's servants and their horses. Blaine explained that they had been on their way back to the castle where he lived with his father the king. Now they all could return, and he insisted Kurt should come with them.

Knowing that he had probably done all he could here, Kurt politely declined, explaining that he had only been traveling through when he got lost and now he needed to continue finding his way out. Now Blaine refused to let Kurt travel alone though so he and his servants would accompany him until he was no longer lost. Kurt tried to explain that that was unnecessary, but Blaine would hear none of it. So Kurt tried to figure out the direction he had come from before. It took ages because there were so many trees and plants everything all looked the same. Eventually though they managed to come across the old, well-worn path. The carriage was still there and Kurt refused to go near it. Instead he went around it and continued in the direction he was sure he had come before. Before leaving the path Blaine told his servants to stay behind and wait for him with the horses. So it was only Blaine and Kurt who continued on into the woods.

Shortly Kurt was relieved to see gray wall. He had been hoping it would not take as long, as he was eager to leave and hopefully find himself closer to the attic again, because he was getting somewhat tired of all this adventure. He had forced himself ages ago to stop mourning over his skin care, because there was clearly nothing he could do about it. Finding the door to the gray room, Kurt was about to touch the door handle when a hand stopped his. Looking up in surprise he realized Blaine was right behind him. "Sorry, I forgot to say goodbye, how rude of me."

"What is this?" Blaine asked him, still not taking his hand away from Kurt's.

Kurt had no real good explanation for it, so he just told Blaine the truth. At first he did not think Blaine was going to believe him, but when he was finished Blaine gave him a slightly pitying look and squeezed his hand comfortingly. "I'm sorry to hear all that and I really hope you return to your real home some day. I am thankful though that this thing has brought you here though, because otherwise I might not have ever been freed from that spell, or have met someone as beautiful as yourself."

Kurt's face reddened once more and he blinked in surprise. "Wait...what?" Blaine had not just said that, right?

"I-I know it sounds weird," Blaine laughed nervously, "but it's true. You are indeed beautiful and I am sad knowing now that you must leave me forever. If you were to stay I would have you live with me forever."

Kurt let out a surprised squeak as he felt Blaine move closer, pressing him back up against the gray wall of the Tor. Before he even had time to register what was happening, Blaine's lips were pressed against his own, his hands resting on Kurt's waist. Kurt could not respond for a second, but then his brain unfroze and he was able to react. Normally he would not just let some random guy kiss him – that Karofsky kissing incident had caught him by surprise and had traumatized him for quite a bit – but this was Blaine...a Blaine look-a-like, but for some reason that just did not matter to him right now. Blaine's lips felt soft and nice against his own and he found himself responding eagerly to the kiss, his own hands resting on Blaine's shoulders, gripping them tightly as Blaine pressed closer against him.

As quickly as the happy, bubbly feeling in his stomach came, it left to be replaced by fear. Something did not feel right. And it was not just the fact that the thought had occurred to him that he should not be getting emotionally attached to someone he was never going to see again. Kurt managed to pull away from the kiss, gasping a bit at the lack of air he had been receiving, and ignored Blaine's look of slight confusion to try and figure out what was wrong. That was when the ground beneath their feet started shaking and black clouds started gathering in the skies above them. The Witch was coming.

Kurt knew it was stupid, but this time he was not going to run. Not when it meant leaving Blaine behind to fend for himself against the wicked Witch. The ground was starting to shake harder and they held onto each other for support. A heavy breeze had picked up and was swirling around them, threatening to blow them off their feet.

Then the Witch herself stepped out from the trees. Blaine actually had a weapon, a sword, but Kurt had a feeling that swords were not going to be much of a match against the Witch. The Witch raised her hand and a bolt of dark cloud shot at them. Kurt yelled for Blaine to get down, but Blaine refused and jumped in front of Kurt to protect him. The black cloud pierced his chest and seemed to disappear into him, causing Blaine to cry out in pain and sink to the ground. Dropping to his knees, Kurt pressed his hand over Blaine's heart and leaned over him, begging him not to die, to stay with him, but the life quickly faded from Blaine's eyes and tears ran down Kurt's face. Seeing Blaine dead before him hurt even more than when he had seen Brittany dead. He leaned down closer and pressed a soft kiss to Blaine's forehead.

Then he stood and faced the Witch. He angrily asked her why the hell she could not just leave him alone. All he wanted was to get back home to his world.

"You have the key." The Witch replied. "And you're a lot closer to your world than you think."

"What does the hell does that mean?" Kurt glared. He was angry and upset and straight answers would be damn more preferable than cryptic ones. "And what's so special about this key anyway? All it's done for me is open a lock on a chest some thieves hid money in."

The Witch shook her head. "I will not tell you anything. And if you think the key was only good for unlocking that measly chest you're quite wrong. It can unlock quite a bit more, if only you know where to look."

"Stop messing around and just give me a straight answer!" Kurt snapped.

The Witch's eyes flashed threateningly at him and she moved closer, too close for Kurt's comfort. He backed up against the doorway of the Tor, his hand reaching behind his back for the door handle. His eyes flashed down to Blaine's lifeless form before he looked back towards the Witch. It would have been nice to have actually dug a grave to bury Blaine, like he had done with Brittany, but it looked like Kurt most likely would not get the chance.

"Don't tell me what to do, boy." The Witch snarled at him. "Now hand over the key or I'll not hesitate to kill you."

"I won't!" Kurt replied. "Those old brothers told me not to give it to you. I'm not stupid."

"I suppose they didn't happen to mention that that key is the main thing keeping you here, traveling from world to world, unable to return to your own?" The Witch laughed.

Kurt paused. "Wait...what?" Was that really true? It could not be. They would have told him that, right?

"Yes." The Witch continued. "That key is special, capable of unlocking anything you want it to. It is, you could say, the Master Key to all things locked. Its powers were sealed before being tossed into your world, but now that it has returned to the Brothers, and the Tor, its powers have been unlocked. It can longer return to your world unless its powers are bound once more. So, while you still have the key in your possession you, yourself, are unable to return to your world as well." There was quite a bit she was leaving out about the key, but those things benefited her so Kurt was better off ignorant of them.

Kurt was not sure whether he should believe her or not. She could be lying to him, but, at the same time, it almost sounded as if she was telling the truth. What was left then was for him to decide what he was going to do about it. If this key was really keeping him from returning home then he was not going to just keep it about in his possession, but there was still no way he could just give it to the Witch. Then again, if she had it but he was finally back home then it would not be too much of a problem right? He would be safe at home, far away from any trouble she may cause. "If I-if I give you this key I'll be able to go home, right?"

"Of course." The Witch replied. She was not going to mention however that it still might take him a few tries to get home, not to mention that since she would have the key then she planned on taking the Tor from him at some point. Not only was the silver key able to open any lock, it was also the only key made to lock and unlock the Tor. The Tor was capable of locking and unlocking itself, but if you wanted to do so yourself you had to have the silver key. Kurt probably had not even considered trying the key in the Tor's lock. Ah well, she was not going to tell him all that now. "Let's just do us both a favor, you give me the key so I'm happy, and you get to the go home then and you're happy."

Still somewhat unsure, Kurt stood quiet for a moment, thinking. The Witch had to be tricking him. She had to. Maybe she was giving him truthful information about the key, but she was holding back. Not to mention why did she even need the key in the first place? Obviously it was not for anything good. No. He would not give her the key.

The hand he held behind his back was now gripping the door knob to the Tor tightly. He slowly turned it and waited a few more seconds. "Well...I guess you have a point to all that, so I guess I can give you the key..."

The Witch nodded, excitement shining in her black eyes. "Yes, yes, I do. So just hand it-"

"But I think I'll pass." Kurt continued, quickly pushing the door open and jumping side, slamming it shut once he was safely inside. Figuring since the Witch had told him the key locked any lock; Kurt quickly pulled the key out of his pocket and shoved it into the keyhole on the inside of the Tor. The key fit and he turned it fast, hearing the sure sign of it locking.

The Witch, realizing she had been fooled, was furious and started sending bolts of black cloud at the Tor in her anger. When the dense black clouds cleared the Tor was gone. The Witch screamed to the sky, the ground shaking with her rage. She gathered her black clouds to her and disappeared.


	8. The Cobbler and the Brownies

_So holy snap I haven't updated this in aaages. I seriously had no motivation to work on it, but after my writing ban I think I gained some back and moved forward. So here's two more chapters, and I have chapter 9 almost finished. Hopefully I can get more of this finished shortly so it won't be long before it is complete. As always it's lovely to hear from everyone; I love to hear opinions. ^^ Thanks for everyone's continuing support! I loveee all of youuu! *tosses cookies and rainbows everywhere* Hahaha...I'm so odd._

* * *

><p>Kurt did not leave the Tor for over what seemed to be half a day. Now that he was away from the Witch, Blaine's death was starting to really sink in. And, no, it may not be the Blaine from his own world, but it was still Blaine nonetheless and seeing him die was greatly upsetting. His death made Kurt's heart ache more terribly than anything ever had before, besides his mother's death, and he could not keep his tears from coming. Now Kurt sat, silently begging and pleading that, when he opened that door once more, the attic of the library would be in front of him. Eventually he was starting to feel rather hungry so he knew he had to leave the gray room. Steeling himself, Kurt slowly opened the door.<p>

His heart fell when once more he was met with not the attic but some place unfamiliar. This was never ending it seemed. His hand went into his pocket and he clutched the small silver key tightly. Even if the Witch was right – that the key was really the thing keeping him from getting home – he still could not give it to her. He had an odd feeling that if he did then something really terrible may happen.

Something else was bothering him, causing him to think. The Witch had said it locked and unlocked everything, right? And he knew now that he could lock the Tor his self while inside, but could that work outside as well?

Turning around he checked the door. Locked. _Well, here goes nothing._ Kurt thought to himself as he slipped the silver key into the lock and turned it. There was a soft audible click and the door opened. Kurt's eyes widened. If he could lock and unlock it now whenever...could he possibly leave a world pretty much as soon as he arrived? He could just continue jumping from world to world until he reached his own.

Oh, right. He could not reach home until the key's power was bound. Unless that was something the Witch was lying about. Why were things so complicated? Besides, it was also all just wishful thinking; after all, he landed in these worlds for a reason. He could not just leave right away.

The Tor had landed in a small row of little houses in a village. To be clearer, it had landed right between two of the little houses. "You could have chosen a less noticeable spot to land, you know." Kurt commented out loud to the Tor.

"Who are you talking to?"

Kurt jumped at the sound of the all too familiar voice, his heart pounding heavily in his chest. Why did there have to be a different Blaine in almost every single world he went to? He sighed, steeling himself as he turned to face this new Blaine. "Er, no one...um, sorry, am I in your way?"

The Blaine in this world was actually quite a bit older – late 20s possibly? His curls were unruly, fluttering in the soft breeze, and he had a short beard even – which Kurt could not help but notice, despite his slight dislike for facial hair, that it looked pretty good on Blaine. "Not at all. Are you a traveler? I don't recognize your style of dress." He was giving Kurt's attire a curious look.

Kurt had changed back into his own clothing, having wanted to separate himself from the clothing he had worn in the last world where that Blaine had been murdered. He silently berated himself for not having thought to change into something more time appropriate before leaving the Tor. "Yeah...something like that."

"Well, it's getting kind of late. Do you have anywhere to stay?" The Blaine look-a-like asked kindly. When Kurt shook his head no, Blaine reached out and took his hand, leading him to a little place right across the dirt road. "You can stay with me if you'd like. I don't bite, I swear." He laughed. Kurt really hoped not. None of the Blaines he had met so far had been evil, thankfully.

Kurt followed Blaine into a little shoe store and looked around. The store was slightly unkempt and dusty. Kurt was really wishing now that he had remembered to change his attire before leaving the Tor. His clothes were going to get dirty in here. He asked Blaine if this was his store and Blaine nodded, looking none too thrilled about the admittance. Blaine explained that the store used to do very well when ran by his parents, before their unfortunate passing, of course. They had always wanted Blaine to take over the family business, but shoe making was never his thing – music was, something neither parent approved of - choosing not to elaborate on the cause of death, Blaine finished by simply saying that, after his mother and father's passing, he had little choice but to take over the shoe shop. The shoes Blaine made though were hardly as amazing as the ones his father used to make, and Blaine choose to spend more time out of the shop playing music elsewhere with his friends.

Kurt was interested in seeing all the tools and such needed to make a pair of shoes. So he looked about as Blaine trailed along and explained the different tools. By the time he was finished they were both feeling rather tired so Blaine showed Kurt to the only other bedroom on the second floor, which was the guest room. Being tired from the day and already having been exhausted emotionally from the day before, Kurt quickly fell asleep.

When Kurt awoke in the morning it took him a moment to remember where he was. He was just sitting up when the door burst open and in popped Blaine, who looked quite cheerful.

"Kurt! Look what happened last night!" Blaine bounced excitedly over to the bed, holding out a pair of shoes for Kurt to inspect.

Grumpy because he was still not fully awake, Kurt yawned tiredly and tried to focus on the nice pair of shoes that were being waved about in his face. "For god's sake, Blaine! Stop waving them about!" Blaine did as he was told and held the shoes still for Kurt to inspect. The shoes were perfectly made, looking nothing like the poor attempts at shoes that Blaine had down in the workshop. "Did you make these?" Kurt asked curiously.

"Nope!" The shoemaker replied, shaking his head. "I cut the leather for the shoes last night and then went to bed. When I woke up this morning these were there finished. I wonder what- oh."

"Oh?"

"You must have been asleep or just waking up when I ran in here. Sorry." Blaine apologized. "I'll just go downstairs and wait for you to get ready for the day. Sorry again!" And with that the older man was up and cheerfully bouncing out the door.

"Thanks." Kurt muttered. The Blaine in this world definitely reminded him of the Blaine in his world. He about half expected this Blaine to start jumping on furniture. Wouldn't that be a sight?

Wishing he had a good can of hairspray for once; Kurt sighed at his messy hair and just ran his fingers through it. His 'getting ready in the morning' routine nowadays took less time than Finn's did back home. A moment of homesickness overtook him at the thought and Kurt sighed heavily. After making himself presentable, Kurt made his way down to where Blaine was.

The new shoes were no longer in sight. Blaine looked quite pleased with himself, however. When Kurt asked what had become of them, Blaine explained that someone had already stopped by to look for shoes and had loved the new ones so much they paid double for them. Kurt was surprised, but happy for Blaine.

They ate breakfast together and then Blaine informed him that he would be going out for a bit. He asked Kurt if he wanted to come with, but Kurt decided to stay behind and help out a bit by cleaning up the place. Blaine insisted he did not have to do that, but Kurt wanted to be helpful. Plus the work would help keep his mind off of thoughts of home and the past Blaine's death. So Kurt spent the afternoon cleaning, singing out loud to his self as he did so. Around dinner time Blaine returned, still looking rather cheerful. He explained that he had went out to get more leather for shoes after visiting a good friend of his to tell of his good fortune.

The next morning Kurt was awoken once again by a rather excited Blaine, this time to find that two more pairs of shoes had been made. Kurt was really starting to wonder what was going on. For about three weeks this continued until finally Kurt told Blaine they should try and figure out who was helping with the shoes. Blaine readily agreed.

"We can stay up and watch." Blaine nodded, looking about the work room. "Hm, we'll want to hide though just in case. Would the work closet do? It's pretty big."

Kurt did not really want to spend the time hiding in a closet, but it was big enough to hide them so he nodded in agreement.

"Good. We can come out after whoever's helping leaves." Blaine decided. The thought of literally 'coming out of the closet' almost made Kurt giggle hysterically, but he managed to control himself, merely nodding in agreement once more.

That night they hid in the closet, leaving a lit candle on the work table next to some leather Blaine had cut for shoes. Nothing happened for the longest time and all Kurt was aware of was the fact that he was shut up in a closet with Blaine, who, despite the somewhat large closet, was pressed up against him. At midnight, as they both peeked through the small opening the unclosed doors gave them, they were surprised to see a small number of naked men – all hardly taller than a very small child – come in through the window and sit down at the work bench to start working on turning the leather into the perfect shoes Blaine kept finding in the morning. Once they were finished they all ran back to the window and hopped on out until the room was empty once more.

Kurt pushed open the closet doors and stepped out, Blaine following close behind. "Well, I assume it's safe to say they aren't human?"

"Correct, I'd say." Blaine shrugged. He went over to examine the shoes, shaking his head in wonder at the work that had been done to them.

"Well," Kurt paused for a moment, thinking things through for a second, "it's getting chillier out since winter's coming. They must be cold. Why don't I make them some clothes so we can repay them for all the help they've given you?" Blaine thought that was a marvelous idea, though he was amazed Kurt actually knew how to make clothing. Kurt grinned, telling him to just wait and see.

So the next morning Kurt set to work, glad he was pretty familiar with several ways to make clothing by now thanks to the different worlds he had been to – well, the ones he had actually had a chance to learn in. As he worked he sung quietly to himself. At one point he looked up and was startled to see Blaine was sitting nearby and watching.

"Goodness, you startled me!" Kurt laughed nervously, looking back down to continue his work.

Blaine laughed. "Sorry. I heard you singing and wanted to hear better, so I came in. Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Kurt shook his head.

"Good." Blaine grinned. "I like your voice. Your songs are strange though. I have never heard them before. Are they from where you live?"

Kurt nodded, hoping Blaine would not ask him too many questions about his home. So far he had managed to avoid many personal questions. No such luck this time, of course. Blaine asked him if he had traveled far and what sort of adventures he had been on. Kurt decided to be partially honest and talk about some of the adventures he had had from the past worlds he had visited, tweaking some of the details of course. Blaine was very interested to say the least. He told Kurt about some of the places he had been to with his parents when they had still been alive. Traveling and seeing new places had been something he always wanted to do more of.

After finishing all the clothing for the little men who had been helping Blaine out, Kurt and Blaine set them out and hid once more in the closet to watch that night. At exactly midnight the little men returned once more to make shoes. Instead of leather for shoes though, this time they found the clothing Kurt had made for them. Looks of delight appeared on their faces and they happily put on the clothes, dancing about the room as they sang.

"Such pretty dainty boys as we, can no longer cobblers be!" After much celebration the little men danced right on out the window. After that they did not return again.

Despite their absence however, things continued to go well for Blaine and he had somehow managed to develop quite the talent for making shoes. It was quite a surprise for both Blaine and Kurt, but neither of them questioned it, figuring it had to be thanks to the little men.

Eventually Kurt figured it was probably time to leave. After all, hadn't he achieved something here, having helped Blaine out and all? Yes, it was probably time to go, even though Kurt hardly wanted to. He enjoyed the time spent with this world's Blaine. If he knew the chances of getting back to his own world were so little, then wouldn't it be better maybe to just stay here for a while? Leaving this Blaine would be more difficult, especially after how poorly the last time he had left a Blaine had gone. Kurt was getting really tired of having to continuously leave Blaine, no matter the fact that it was technically always a different person in Blaine's image. Soon he gave in and finally told Blaine it might be time he started back on his way home. Unfortunately telling Blaine this did not go how Kurt ever could have planned.

"Wait...you're leaving?" Blaine questioned, looking rather upset at the thought.

"Yes." Kurt nodded in reply. "I have to. I'm sorry."

Blaine sighed, running a hand through his unruly curls. "It's been nice, having you around, you know? It'll be hard getting used to being alone again."

"Don't go making me feel even guiltier." Kurt laughed weakly, feeling the uncomfortable feeling of guilt and sadness tugging at his heart.

Blaine begged him to stay one more night at least and finally Kurt agreed. However, after Kurt was finally sure Blaine had gone to sleep, he decided that it would probably just be a good idea to leave now before the morning and Blaine awoke. He knew it would be better this way. As he was trying to sneak out of the front door though he heard a voice behind him and knew he had been caught.

"You weren't even going to say goodbye?"

Kurt froze, not wanting to turn around. If he did he would see the disappointed, hurt look upon Blaine's face and then he knew he would not leave. "I'm sorry, Blaine. I just thought it would be easier this way."

A hand grasped his lightly, announcing Blaine's presence behind him, but still Kurt did not turn around. "How is it any easier? Did it not occur to you that I might be hurt by this?"

"It did." Kurt replied, his voice quiet. "But I don't want to say goodbye to you...ever. Please just let me go-"

"I can't." Blaine replied stubbornly, trying to get Kurt to turn around.

Kurt protested, tugging his self from Blaine's grasp and making a break for the door. This was not how he had wanted his departure to go, but he had to leave. How else could he make Blaine understand that without actually telling him the truth about everything?

He heard Blaine calling after him repeatedly, but did not stop or look back as he made his way back to the Tor on the other side of the street. Thankfully it looked untouched, though surprisingly considering it had chosen such a public spot to land. As he approached the door Blaine's shouts continued, somehow seemingly closer than before. Kurt grabbed the handle and tore open the door, dodging inside and turning to quickly shut it close. Unfortunately he was not quick enough and the door was pulled from his grasp as Blaine yanked on it and managed to make his way into the room with him.

"Kurt-"

The door slammed shut behind them and Kurt's eyes widened. "Oh no..." Neither could say a thing more before suddenly everything was shaking around them.


	9. The Golden Key

Kurt could not believe it. The Tor had shut itself and had trapped Blaine inside! Now it was as if an earthquake was shaking the Tor, though there was no sound to be heard from it. Both of them fell over, sticking to the ground until the shaking had stopped.

"What was that?" Blaine asked curiously, sitting up and looking around at the plain room, empty except for some of the clothing Kurt had kept from the other worlds he had visited.

His question was met with silence for Kurt was quite confused and trying to figure that out for himself. Normally when the Tor moved it was not like this. Had the Witch appeared after the door had shut, taking her anger out on it? Or maybe it had happened because of Blaine. Maybe people of other worlds were not supposed to be in the Tor. What if Kurt had messed the Tor up now because Blaine had followed him inside? The thought of having broken the Tor – most likely meaning he would never get home – filled Kurt with so much sorrow he almost cried. Blaine's voice once more interrupted his thoughts however, giving him something more to focus on.

"Kurt? Hello?" Blaine waved a hand in front of his face. "What's going on?"

Kurt bit his lip, standing and heading over to the door. It was locked, but Kurt did not care. He slipped the tiny silver key into the lock and unlocked the door. Opening it he peeked outside. It was apparently night time. They were in the woods somewhere, stuck in the middle of a clearing covered in thick snow.

"What in the world-" Blaine was sneaking a look around him, "Where are we? How am I not in town anymore?"

Figuring he better explain things properly now before they went out to investigate why the Tor had landed here, Kurt tugged Blaine back into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Alright...I know you're not going to believe this, but we're not in your world anymore." Blaine blinked, looking like he did not understand what Kurt had just told him. This would go well. "This thing we're standing in is called the 'Tor' and honestly it's my only way back home, though for some reason it doesn't want me to get home which could be due to this silver key I have. I don't really know why I'm traveling like this; all I know is that in every world I land in there's something I have to do, fix or whatever, and weirdly enough it's normally always involving Blaine."

"Wait, me?"

"Er, I guess? Sort of? Ugh, it's so confusing." Kurt sighed, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. "I don't know why, but there's a Blaine in every world I go to and it's just really weird because there's a Blaine in my world too that I was already friends with. It's not just always Blaine's though. There have been twins of other people from my world in the worlds I've traveled to as well."

Blaine still looked rather confused, but also as if he was trying to puzzle everything together and make sense of it all. "So all those stories you told me of your adventures..."

"I tweaked the details a bit." Kurt admitted. "But they're true."

"Huh. And I died in that last one before you reached...my world?" 

"Well, not technically you, yourself, but yeah in a way it was you." How confusing trying to explain this to someone.

"Odd." Blaine huffed. "Well, I guess it is hard to believe, but at the same time...we're not in my town anymore and I know for sure there aren't really woods near where I live, so we had to have gotten here somehow. And this is the only explainable way..."

"I just don't think you were meant to come with." Kurt told him. "I think it was because you came in here that the earthquake thing happened." 

"So can I get back?"

Kurt bit his lip, already knowing exactly what the answer would be to that. "Blaine, I don't have much control over this thing's landing decisions. Otherwise I would have just gone home myself ages ago. I'm sorry, but...I don't think I can get you back."

Blaine did not look too distressed over the idea, surprisingly. "Ah, well...then as much as I'll miss my friends, at least I'll get to finally go on some adventures!"

"Not exactly the response I thought that'd get, but okay." Kurt muttered to himself. "Alright," he spoke up to Blaine, "just be careful, because there's no way I want to be responsible for getting you killed or whatever."

"Oh, I'll be fine!" Blaine replied, grinning. "Besides, I'm older. Shouldn't I be watching out for you?"

Kurt sent one of his bitch glares Blaine's way. "_Puh_-lease, I've been doing this traveling thing far longer than you have, and, contrary to popular belief, I am not a girl and am quite capable of taking care of myself." And with that Kurt opened the door once more and walked out into the clearing they had landed in.

Blaine called after him, following him out into the clearing. "Kurt, wait!" He caught up with Kurt, grabbing his arm to stop him. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to insinuate that you're a girl or that you are incapable of taking care of yourself. Obviously you are considering all the adventures you've already had."

Kurt sighed, shaking his head. "I don't even know why I snapped at you really. It was uncalled for. Sometimes I really do get offended by things like that, because of the way I'm treated in my world. You didn't know that so-"

Their conversation was interrupted by a rustling off to the side. A path off to the left of the clearing was barely viewable in the dark of the night, but if they both tried hard enough they could see it and tell the sound was coming from there. Someone, or something, was approaching. Kurt froze; halting Blaine who had almost went to go see what had caused the noise. As they waited silently a boy finally entered the clearing, dragging a sled along behind him that was laden with firewood and kindle. Kurt almost laughed in surprise; the boy was an exact twin of Artie, except an Artie that could walk.

The boy spotted them and froze just as they were frozen. "Who are you guys?"

Kurt figured he better answer him, since Blaine was new to this whole jumping worlds thing. "I'm Kurt and this is my friend, Blaine. We're travelers and, er, sort of got lost."

"This is a terrible place to get lost in." The Artie look-a-like commented. "You'll both freeze. Here, I'm cold too so let's build a fire. I'm Artie."

As Artie went to clear a spot of snow to build a fire, Blaine whispered to Kurt. "Is he one of-"

"Yes." Kurt replied, smiling fondly at the twin of his friend. "Though my Artie can't walk, so this is a little strange."

There was a strange gasping sound behind them and they turned to see Artie curiously inspecting something. They went over to look and realized he had found a good size iron chest half buried under the snow. It was locked however and Artie looked stumped as to how he could open it.

"Surely there's something interesting inside!" He stated, still inspecting the chest. "Ah! Found a keyhole. It's really tiny, but it's there. Maybe there's a key around somewhere too."

Kurt pulled the tiny silver key out of his pocket, remembering what the Witch had said about it being able to unlock pretty much anything. "Here, you could try this key we found a while ago." Blaine was giving him a confused look, which he deserved since he had not told Blaine all the details about the key.

Artie had ignored him however, bending down again to brush away more of the snow. "Found one!" He held up a small golden key. Kurt looked at it closely. It kind of resembled his silver key, except it was a lot smaller and newer looking. "It fits!" Artie exclaimed, having put the key into the lock. He started turning the key very, very slowly.

Blaine gave Kurt an 'are you kidding me' look as they stood there waiting for Artie to unlock the chest. Apparently they would be waiting for a while, because Artie continued to turn the key extremely slowly.

Kurt was just about ready to tell him to hurry up when suddenly the ground started shaking and darker clouds seemed to form in the sky. "Oh no..." He knew what that meant. "Blaine, we have to go!"

"What?" Blaine looked confused, and concerned at Kurt's sudden panic. Artie had paused in turning the key as well, giving both Kurt and Blaine an odd look.

"No time for questions; we're going." Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and practically dragged him back to the Tor. As soon as they were inside he shut the door and locked it. Now they would be safe. Kurt just tried really hard not to think about poor Artie's fate at the hands of the Witch.


	10. Interlude

_Aaand here's another chapter. Yay! This one doesn't really involve a fairy tale. It's sort of a break in between. _

* * *

><p>"Okay, why the freak out?" Blaine asked Kurt curiously. He went over and tried the door to find it locked. "Shouldn't we get back out there and see if Artie's okay? The ground was shaking as if there were another earthquake."<p>

"I know." Kurt replied, flopping down on the floor of the room. "Don't bother with the door. I locked it. Sit down; I have to tell you something." His hands were shaking and he locked them together to try and get them to stop.

Blaine sat down next to him and listened. Kurt explained about the Witch who was continuously hunting him and his silver key. He retold the adventures he had already told Blaine, leaving out no details this time except for the fact that the Blaine from the world before this Blaine's had kissed him. He told Blaine all he knew about the key as well; explaining why he had thought it might have opened the iron chest Artie had found.

"So Artie's probably not alive anymore, is he?" Blaine asked quietly. Kurt shook his head sadly. "And giving the key up to this Witch doesn't seem like a good idea to me either, so...what are you going to do?"

"I don't know." Kurt replied. "The only plan I've got is to continue traveling until I find my way back home. Which I don't think is ever going to happen..." Despair was slowly settling upon him once more and he hid his face in his hands.

Blaine put an arm around his shoulders. "Hey, I'm sure you'll get home eventually. Don't give up." Looking for a possible change in topic, Blaine thoughtfully asked out loud why they had not run into a Blaine in Artie's world. Kurt quietly replied that he did not know. They had not explored the world beyond the clearing; maybe if they had they would have found another Blaine, or maybe there just could not be two Blaine's per world and now that this Blaine was with Kurt there would not be any others. He did not know how the rules of it all worked.

"Why do you think there's a Blaine look-a-like in every world you go?" Blaine asked curiously.

"I don't know that either." Kurt admitted.

"Can you tell me about him?" Blaine asked. "The Blaine in your world, I mean. Maybe if we think about it together we could figure out why he's everywhere in your travels."

Kurt had not really given it much thought before, but he figured it would not hurt to try. "Well, it's strange, because we had only just met a few weeks before I got sucked into all of this. Doesn't really make sense for him to be everywhere though. He's...well, he's great, really." Kurt was sure his face was turning red from talking about Blaine, but he couldn't help it. "I've been having lots of trouble at school and he's been trying to help me out sort of."

"You said people call you a girl and treat you poorly back in your world." Blaine commented. "Is that why you have trouble at school?"

Kurt nodded, sighing heavily. "I've always had to deal with being made fun of and kids bullying me due to my looks and voice. Plus- well, there's a lot of prejudice there too towards people like me. When I met Blaine...he's gone through the same kind of things I have and is just like me, so he really understands my situation and wanted to try and help me out. I miss him, it's surprising how much. Every time I see him in a different world it reminds me how I may never see him again. When the Witch killed him in the world I was in before yours..." a lump had formed in Kurt's throat, cutting off his voice as he hid his face again.

"You really like him." Blaine noted quietly.

"Yes..." Kurt admitted, his voice muffled by his hands. Sure he could be accused of liking someone rather fast, like he had with Sam at school, but this time at least he had fallen for another guy who was gay, right? So maybe things were not exactly as hopeless, but at the same time he just couldn't get back to his own world. And he still had no clue how time was in play here. Sure he, himself, had not aged a day, but he had already done years of time in these worlds. What if time was still continuing in his own world all the while? That would mean Blaine was way older now, along with all the rest of his friends. Things just would not be the same when he got home..._if_ he got home.

"We'll get you back home, Kurt." Blaine told him, giving him a reassuring smile. "I swear I'll help you get back home to your family and your Blaine."

"What about you though?" Kurt asked tearfully.

"Oh, just leave me somewhere, I guess." Blaine laughed, shrugging. "I'll be fine, Kurt. You know me; I love adventure. I just don't think I'm too fond of the idea of leaving you, so you'll have to leave without me knowing it or something. I promise I won't chase you next time."

Kurt lifted his head and glanced over at the older Blaine. "I don't think I could just leave you somewhere..."

"Well, we'll just see when we get to that point." Blaine shrugged. "For now I'm going to help you out. I don't think much really got accomplished in Artie's world. We never saw him get the chest open."

"You're right." Kurt wondered. "I guess that world was sort of a flop then. Shall we unlock the door and see where we are now?"

Blaine yawned, shaking his head. "As curious as I am to do so, we still haven't slept and I'm quite tired. How about we sleep for a bit?"

Kurt had to agree for he was quite tired as well. "Alright." Blaine's arm was still around his shoulder and he really did not want to move, so he tentatively leaned closer against Blaine. When Blaine did not seem to mind, instead holding him closer, Kurt relaxed and closed his eyes. It was not long before he fell asleep.


	11. Sweet Porridge

When Kurt and Blaine woke up next, neither of them knew if it was morning or night. Both somewhat hungry, they decided to leave the Tor and see where they were now. Opening the door they found themselves just outside a small village, in the mid-afternoon. The weather here was nicer, summer weather, whereas the last world had been stuck in winter.

"So...do we need a cover story or something?" Blaine asked.

Kurt shrugged, gazing off at the village. "I've just been using a lost traveler story every time so far."

"Alright." Blaine nodded. "We'll just tell people we're from my home village then, if they ask. Different world, right? So no one will probably recognize it, but at least it'll sound like it's believable."

"True." Kurt agreed. "Greenwood is a lot more believable than Lima, Ohio." When Kurt had told Blaine more about his own world, Blaine had been really interested to hear all about the different states and the different countries. It was rather different from his world, where the land was divided up into regions and people all lived in villages.

As they were heading into the village, a small group of people were very quickly making their way out of it. One of the villagers spotted Kurt and Blaine and frantically waved them over. Sharing a quick look, the two joined the small group of villagers.

"You wouldn't want to be going in there right now." The villager who waved to them informed them.

"Why not?" Kurt asked curiously.

"Oh, it's awful!" Another one of the villagers spoke up. "People trapped inside their homes-"

"It's all Miss Fabray's fault!" Another one shouted.

"Everyone just calm down now-"

"Wait!" Kurt exclaimed. "Did you say 'Fabray'?"

The one who had shouted nodded in response. "Little Miss Fabray brought home that bewitched pot-"

"A witch gave it to her!" Someone interrupted.

"And it makes porridge if you say the right words-"

"But you have to remember to say the words to stop it-"

"If you don't you get the disaster we have right now!"

Kurt was getting really confused with everyone talking all at once. Luckily Blaine seemed to be having the same problem and it was he who finally held out his hands to stop them. "Guys, wait, slow down." Blaine shook his head. "Okay. So you're basically saying that this girl got a magic pot that makes porridge when you say the right words, but no one's said the right words to make it stop so now...what?"

"The village is starting to drown in porridge!" A villager wailed, pointing towards the village they all just left. "Look!"

And sure enough as they looked they could see something was definitely spreading throughout the small village, heading in their direction. It looked like a huge, blobby, brown mass slowly spreading along the lanes, surrounding all the houses. There was even a slight smell that came with it, which might not have been that bad except it was mixing with all the other village smells that were not so pleasant.

"Well, then why doesn't someone just say the words to make it stop?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

A villager sighed and shrugged. "None of us know it. Miss Fabray left for the woods to find berries earlier, leaving the pot home with her mother. Her mother probably can't remember the words to stop it. She's trapped inside her own home!"

Kurt knew what he had to do now. He just hoped the little girl would not be too difficult to find. "Alright, my friend and I will go look for Miss Fabray. She can't have gone too far, right?"

"The best spot for berries is the clearing, just about ten minutes in the woods." Someone replied. "I'm sure she'll hear you if you call for her."

Figuring he already knew her first name, but just to be safe; Kurt asked what Miss Fabray's first name was. It came as no surprise to hear it was Quinn. He and Blaine promised they would be quick, and then they were off into the woods. Once out of earshot of the villagers, Blaine asked if Quinn was one of Kurt's friends from back in his own world; to which Kurt replied yes. Then Kurt explained that he knew it was his job – well, now _their_ job, since Blaine was tagging along – since generally there was normally a problem in every world he visited, leading him to be the one to either solve or help solve whatever the problem was. As soon as the situation had been explained he had just known they had to find Quinn.

Shortly into the woods they started calling out Quinn's name, hoping to hear some sort of response. When they stumbled upon the clearing they quickly spotted a short, blond haired girl in a pretty dress. She saw them and jumped, startled by their sudden presence. "Were you two the ones calling me?"

Kurt had to admit even a seemingly ten year old Quinn was quite pretty. He wondered if she was as stuck up and snobby as his world's Quinn was. "That was us." He replied.

"Thought I was imagining it." Quinn shrugged. "Who are you guys?"

"We're, er, lost travelers." Kurt explained. "Right now though we're helping your village out, because it seems your mother lost control of that magic pot you were given."

"Which means that currently my village is drowning in porridge, right?" Quinn giggled. "Well, that's great." She was giving them both a curious look however as she reached down to pick up her basket of berries.

Blaine and Kurt exchanged a look. "So...we were hoping you would come back and fix things. Please?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Well, at least you're polite about it. I don't normally just go somewhere with strangers, but considering the situation I'll follow."

The three of them headed back towards the village. As they walked, Blaine asked her about the magic pot she had been given. Quinn explained that her father had deserted them two months prior, leaving her and her mother with very little. She really didn't want either of them to starve, so one day she went into the woods to see if she could find some food, meanwhile gathering sticks for a fire, when a tall, frizzy haired woman approached her in the same clearing Kurt and Blaine had just been in. Quinn told them that the sky had turned dark with gray clouds in the woman's presence. The woman, she had said, was a witch. The witch explained to her that she was looking for a lost traveler, someone who had stolen a very important key from her, and that she would give Quinn the magic cooking pot if she promised to keep an eye out for the traveler. Quinn had promised she would and had received the magic cooking pot, which had saved her and her mother from starvation.

Kurt shot Blaine a wide eyed look before trying to compose himself. "Well...that was nice of her. Hopefully she'll find her key." The Witch was not nice at all though. Kurt knew that things would not end well for little Quinn if the Witch was to find that Kurt had been there, but Quinn had not told her.

"I thought it was you guys for a while there," Quinn admitted, "but she said there was only one lost traveler, and here there are two of you. I'm sure you are no thieves."

"Nah, I'm just a shoe maker and he's a musician." Blaine shrugged. "If it would help we can keep an eye out for this thief as well."

"That would be helpful." Quinn smiled.

They finally reached the small group of villagers who had escaped the village earlier. The villagers were thrilled to see Quinn, all of them talking over one another as they begged her to stop the magic cooking pot. Unfortunately Quinn threw quite a fuss about having to walk through the mass of porridge, already having spread to the edges of the village, in her pretty dress. Finally Blaine chimed up that he could carry her in. This of course made Kurt groan, because now he probably had to go in as well and he did not fancy walking through the mush. Blaine told him not to worry, that he would get Quinn safely to her home and then would be back. So Kurt waited with the villagers as Blaine carried Quinn into the village on his back. It was quite a sight to see and Kurt had a brief visual of the Blaine from his world carrying the Quinn from his world the same way, which would have had him giggling if he had not managed to bite his tongue. Surely someone would think he was going mad if he kept that up.

It felt like ages later when they could finally see Blaine again, making his way through the porridge. Once he was with them once more he started trying to clean his self off, but there was really nothing he could do. "Well, the porridge has stopped at least!" Blaine told them semi-cheerfully.

The villagers cheered in relief. One of the men told them to wait where they were, and then he made his own way into the village. On his return he was carrying some clothes and a covered basket. He had brought Blaine some clean clothes and the basket held dinner for the two of them. It was in thanks for helping them fix their porridge problem. Kurt and Blaine thanked the villagers and then announced they would be continuing on their way. They waved farewell then headed back for the Tor. Kurt let Blaine change inside first before they both went in to sit and eat their dinner.

"That was probably the weirdest adventure I have had yet." Kurt laughed in disbelief, once they were sitting and relaxing.

"I can only imagine." Blaine agreed. "Was that village's Quinn like the Quinn from your world?" He asked Kurt curiously.

"Sort of?" Kurt shrugged. "It's different, I guess, cause of her age difference."

"Well, by the time we reached her house she about talked my ear off." Blaine complained. "_And_ she said I was super strong and pretty and should come back some day to marry her. _Pretty_!" He shook his head. "Don't laugh!"

Kurt tried to wipe the amused look off his face, but failed miserably. "Aw, but it's so adorable! You have an admirer!"

"Sorry, Miss Quinn Fabray," Blaine laughed, lying on his back and examining the sleeve of the shirt the villager had given him, "but there's somebody else I love."

"Really?" Kurt questioned before he could stop himself. "Who?"

"Someone." Blaine replied vaguely, still examining the shirt sleeve.

He did not seem to want to elaborate so Kurt did not push him, but he did wonder. "I'm sure Miss Fabray will find another strong and pretty guy in the future..." After he trailed off they both sat in silence for some time before Kurt finally stood and went to shut the door. Before he could get the key into the lock he heard the audible clicking sound that meant it had already locked. They were already heading to a new world.

Sighing, Kurt went back to sit next to Blaine. "Do you think the Witch will be in the other worlds, warning people about us?"

"Who knows?" Blaine shrugged. "It's not like she can tell where we'll be next, and clearly there are _a lot_ of worlds out there." He shook his head, snorting softly in disbelief. "I still can't get over that..._different worlds_."

After another brief moment of silence Blaine spoke up once more, sounding somewhat tentative. "So...no Blaine in that world either."

Kurt shook his head. "Nope. Maybe there really _can't_ be more than one Blaine in a world." He sat, silently thinking, wondering how this all worked.

Blaine sat in silence as well, a troubled look upon his face.


	12. The Golden Bird

_OH MY GOD...SO, SORRY FOR HAVING TAKEN MONTHS TO UPLOAD AAAANYTHING. I SWEAR I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN THESE FICS. I SWEARS IT UPON THE PRECIOUS._

_You can blame this chapter right here for the delay. It's been nagging at me for ages and I couldn't focus on anything else. Now it's finally finished though. YAY! Lots will happen (it is quite the lenghty chapter...). So hopefully you enjoy!_

* * *

><p>"Let's see where we are now, shall we?" Blaine spoke, seemingly quite cheerful to escape the confines of the Tor. Kurt followed behind as Blaine stepped out into the light of day. Both of them had to stop for a moment and take in the sight before them.<p>

They were in the middle of a huge, beautiful garden. There were paths lined with stones, neatly trimmed bushes and flower beds, and there were dozens of trees. The sun was shining brightly overhead, and sounds of birds chirping filled the air along with the soft rustling of leaves that were disturbed by a light breeze.

The most beautiful sight in the garden however was a tall, golden tree. Hanging from branches of this particular tree were shiny, golden apples.

Before they could investigate much further, the sound of heavy footsteps, approaching on the path they were currently standing, drew their attention. A familiar voice reached Kurt's ear, but it was what the voice said that made Kurt's head turn so quickly.

"Kurt?"

It was another twin of Puck – this one with no hair at all - but how did this one know his name already?

When Kurt did not respond at first, Puck sighed and drew closer. His eyes were taking in Kurt's appearance carefully, as if he were inspecting him for something. "Well, you're not hurt. So that's good at least."

"Uh," Kurt still did not understand what was going on, "no, I'm not hurt. Why would I be hurt?"

Puck rolled his eyes, giving another exasperated sigh. "And no wonder dad has so little faith in you. Is there any use in asking you where you've been these past two days? Everyone has been kind of wondering, but if you yourself don't even know..."

A thought was slowly starting to form in Kurt's mind and he wondered why it had not occurred to him before. If there were other Blaines in each world, and look-a-likes of other people from Kurt's own world, then could there possibly be look-a-likes of Kurt himself? It would help this current situation make more sense. The fact that the original Kurt from this world had disappeared might help confirm Kurt's suspicions that there could not be more of a person in each world, which he had been wondering since this Blaine had started traveling with him.

So for now he should probably play along. What was Puck in relation to him though? Puck mentioned 'dad' and if he was calling Kurt's father dad...then did that mean they were brothers? How odd would that be?

"I was lost." Kurt finally replied, hoping that would be a good enough answer.

"Lost." Puck laughed. "Well, no surprise there. And who is this?" He asked, indicating to Blaine.

"A friend I made while I was wandering." Kurt replied, hoping Puck would not ask too many questions. "His name is Blaine."

Puck nodded then looked back over at Kurt. "Well, he may as well come along then. We need to tell dad you're no longer lost." He shook his head, muttering, as he turned to head back up the path, that 'you'd think a king's son would be able to keep himself from getting lost all the time'.

Kurt and Blaine could not discuss the current situation together while following behind Puck, for fear of being overheard. Soon they were out of the garden and crossing under a stone archway that led into a small courtyard. From there they entered a stone castle that was extravagantly decorated. Servants and maids bowed and curtsied to the small group as they passed, something Kurt didn't mind too terribly even if it was something he wasn't used too. Apparently he and Puck – if they were actually brothers in this world – were royalty here. That was something new. Kurt was used to being just a lost traveler. This new world was quite confusing so far for him.

As they entered a chamber that resembled a small living room, complete with a little gold table, scarlet velvet covered chairs and couch near a huge fireplace, a man turned around from the curtained window to greet them. Kurt gasped, his heart pounding painfully at the sight of the man he had started to think he would never see again.

It was his father.

Burt Hummel was indeed the king of this castle. He looked just how Kurt remembered him, bald head and all. Blinking furiously to keep the building tears from flowing freely, Kurt managed a strangled 'dad!' before he ran across the room and threw his arms around his father. Too late he remembered that this was not his real father and his behavior might be entirely unexpected, and frowned upon. To his relief however, Burt laughed and hugged him in return.

"Your returns aren't always this dramatic, but I'm glad at least one of my sons is generally so happy to see me." Burt smiled. Kurt was finally able to let go of Burt, but he could not bring himself to move too far away. Despite knowing it wasn't his real father, he still wanted to be close to the man who looked exactly like him. "Where have you been, son?"

"I- I'm sorry." Kurt apologized, wishing with all his heart that he was answering this question for _his_ father and not this world's Kurt's father. "I got lost wandering..."

Burt laughed, shaking his head. "That happens way too often, young man. You missed your studies with your brothers for two whole days. Not to mention all the other days you get lost. No wonder you're so far behind on everything except your music lessons."

Brothers, as in _plural_? Kurt wondered how many other brothers he had in this world, and who they all were. "I promise I'll work hard to make everything up, dad."

"Good, boy." Burt nodded in response. "And who do you have with you here?"

Kurt looked back to see Blaine still standing next to Puck, still looking somewhat confused. "That's Blaine. I met him while I was...lost." He explained to Burt.

Burt was giving Blaine a curious look. "My goodness, you couldn't be the Anderson's boy, could you?" Kurt blinked at the last name, considering it was Blaine's last name from his own world. Blaine looked like he wasn't sure how to respond. "Yes," Burt continued, "you are! I remember seeing you just two months ago when I went to your father's castle in the neighboring land for council. That's a far journey, at least six days worth by horse. How did you get here?"

"Er, I got lost, sir." Blaine responded weakly.

His response had Burt laughing once more. "Sounds like Kurt here. Well, we'll have you spend the night and then we'll send you right on back to your home. I'm sure your family misses you, and have been worried."

Kurt and Blaine exchanged a look across the room. What were they going to do? If whatever Kurt was supposed to be doing in this world took him longer than a day, they would be separated. Neither one wanted that to happen just yet. Blaine had to continue playing along though so he smiled and nodded, thanking Burt for allowing him to at least stay the night.

Before their conversation could continue, a servant knocked on the door and announced that one of the gardeners wished to speak with the king. Burt bade the man entrance to the room and a short, skinny fellow entered, bowing to the entire group before speaking. The gardener explained that after once more counting the golden apples harvested from the golden tree outside, they had found another apple missing. The king looked quite annoyed upon hearing this and let the man leave, stating that he would find a way to take care of the situation.

Curious, Kurt asked the king what was going on. Burt explained that over the past couple of nights someone or even an animal possibly had been making off with a single apple. Puck asked his father what they were going to do about the situation and Burt was silent for a moment while thinking. Finally he had an idea and told Puck to go fetch their other brother.

Kurt was instantly curious as to who this third brother was. As they waited for Puck and the other brother to return, Burt had Kurt and Blaine sit around the table on the chairs, though they opted to sit next to one another on the couch. Burt remained standing, himself. Using the time waiting to look around, Kurt found his eyes continuously drawn back to the Burt from this world; just seeing him made Kurt miss his actual father more than ever, especially considering his lack of hope that he'd ever make it back to his own world.

When they finally heard footsteps returning into the room, they all looked over and Kurt immediately grabbed hold of Blaine's shirt sleeve without even thinking. A familiar icy cold dread over took him, his heart pounding rapidly in fear instead of in joy as it had earlier when he first spotted his father.

David Karofsky was the third brother.

As soon as Karofsky spotted Kurt he snorted and shook his head. "Puck told me all about how you got lost again, Kurtsie. We really ought to pin a map to you at all times. Soon it'll get so bad you'll get lost coming down for breakfast." Puck laughed behind Karofsky, but quickly tried to cover it up with a cough.

Kurt couldn't respond, couldn't get any sound to leave his throat. Painful memories of locker shoves, ice cold slushies getting tossed into his face and burning his eyes, verbal threats and dumpster tosses, and the worse part, the part he wished he could erase from his memory forever, the locker room and the kiss...

"David, what have I told you about picking on your brother?" Burt scolded.

It wasn't until Kurt felt Blaine lightly tapping on his shoulder that he realized he was shaking. Ignoring Blaine's worried look, Kurt managed to force himself to let go of Blaine's shirt, focusing his gaze upon Burt's face. Silently he kept up a mantra of 'it's a different Karofsky...it's a different Karofsky' and just hoped nothing bad would come of all this. He should have assumed that there might have been the possible chance of this happening, of there being another Karofsky in a different world.

Karofsky did not apologize, and eventually Burt just continued with the task at hand. He explained that he needed someone to sit up at night in the garden and watch for who ever, or whatever, was taking the apples. Stating that since Puck was the oldest he should be the first to go out and spend the night, Burt was glad when there was no protest.

When Burt was finished speaking he told them he had some things to take care of, leaving them to their own time. Karofsky left immediately and Puck only left after jokingly reminding Kurt not to get lost trying to find his own room.

Of course Kurt had no clue where his – well, this world's Kurt's – room was. Once it was just Kurt and Blaine in the room Blaine immediately turned to Kurt and asked him what was going on.

"That was my dad, Blaine, my _dad_." Kurt's heart was not racing as much now that Karofsky was gone, but he still felt intense anxiety just knowing the look-a-like of his high school bully was somewhere in the same building as him. "And Puck, but he's not that bad anymore, and then..." he shook his head, not even wanting to think about Karofsky.

"I remember you telling me about your dad and how close you two are." Blaine commented. "I can only imagine how it must feel to see him now, even if he's not really your real father and only like a twin of him."

Kurt nodded, pulling his legs up to his chest and locking his arms around them. His emotions were quite overwhelming at the moment. He felt Blaine put an arm around his shoulders and, without even thinking about it, he leaned against Blaine's side, feeling comforted by the gesture. "Lately I just haven't felt so sure that I'll ever see my father again, so seeing him now is- it's painful. It was difficult for me to look at this guy and remind myself that he isn't my real father."

There was a brief moment of silence before Blaine tentatively spoke up once more. "And what about that David fellow? I felt you freeze up as soon as he entered the room. He's a twin of someone from your world too, isn't he?"

"He's..." Kurt sighed heavily, resting his forehead upon his knees, "he's David Karofsky in my world, and he's the kid who bullies me the worst at school."

"That'd explain why you started shaking after he said those things to you." Blaine noted.

Kurt shrugged weakly. "Everything that kid does to me...torment me, shove me into lockers, verbally _threaten_ me, it's all just terrifying. I was trying to tell myself that this isn't the same guy, but the fact that he still looks like him... And the worst part is..." Kurt was getting choked up again, thinking about that day, after he had ran home and used every method he knew to clean his mouth out, cleaning until his gums bled and lips were too red yet he still couldn't get the feeling of _his_ lips to go away...it was making him feel ill again.

Blaine used the arm he had around Kurt's shoulders to draw him closer. "You don't have to talk about it, Kurt, unless you want to. You know I'm here for you."

"He kissed me." Kurt told him quietly. "I had talked to Blaine about Karofsky before this happened. He gave me some advice and I went for it, but when I confronted Karofsky about everything...he kissed me."

"Wait," Blaine blinked, "so he likes you...but he bullies you at the same time?"

"I'm not sure if he even does like me." Kurt replied. "All I know is that he's definitely gay and he's not exactly ready to accept that about himself just yet."

Kurt rested his head against Blaine's shoulder and shrugged slightly. "I just have to keep reminding myself that this isn't the same guy. Maybe I was just hoping so much this entire time that there wouldn't be a look-a-like of him, that I never considered what would happen, how I would respond, if there _was_ another of him in one of these worlds."

"Well, how about we focus on what's going on here then, so we can get you out of this world as soon as possible." Blaine spoke. "I don't like knowing that you're uncomfortable and feel threatened."

"You're sweet..." Kurt commented softly. He smiled a tiny bit as he sat up straight again, the action causing Blaine to have to move his arm. Maybe he shouldn't be allowing himself to think of how sweet and caring Blaine was, but he could hardly help himself. Unfortunately he would probably regret it later.

"So, I'm figuring at the moment I just need to figure out what's going on with these apples." Kurt guessed. "And then whatever happens from there will hopefully be enough for us to be able to leave. However," he frowned, looking thoughtful, "there is the slight issue of the fact that you're getting sent off tomorrow to this other castle, pretty far away. So if Puck doesn't catch the thing or person tonight then I'm going to have to find a way to get you back here too."

Blaine thought about it for a moment before finally responding. "I could just try to leave again from this other castle."

"There is that." Kurt agreed.

So in the end they agreed that if Puck did not figure out what was going on after that night, then Kurt would continue to help out until they did and Blaine would escape and make his way back from the other castle. Surely it would all work out in the end.

As it was starting to get late they decided the best course of action would be to just ask someone where Kurt's room was. The maid they asked giggled and wasn't too surprised at the request. She told Kurt where it was before heading back to her work. Kurt and Blaine finally managed to find the room and Kurt immediately had to state that at the least the Kurt from this world had good taste. The room was decorated tastefully in blues and soft whites, and there was a pretty decent sized balcony that over looked a lake to the back.

"Dang, I bet the original Kurt from here is missing this view!" Kurt exclaimed, leaning slightly over the railing of the balcony and closing his eyes at the sudden soft breeze that blew at his hair. It felt relaxing to just stand there and breathe in the night air for a few moments, let his mind focus on small things and nothing too stressful.

Blaine stood next to him, their shoulders touching as they both leaned against the railing. "I definitely would, if I were him." He agreed. "Does it feel weird now, suddenly knowing that there are look-a-likes of your self out there?"

Kurt nodded in response. "It does. I don't know why the thought never occurred to me that there could be. It makes me wonder what those other Kurts are like."

"Wouldn't they sort of be like you, you think?" Blaine asked.

"No...Not exactly." Kurt replied. "I mean, I've met so many different Blaines by now and, while they have shared quite a few qualities of the Blaine from my world, they're still different, even you, because you've all grown up in different worlds, raised differently, and are even at different stages of your lives. You have different memories and experiences than the Blaine I know, so basically you may _look_ like Blaine and share his name, but you're not Blaine at the same time."

"So..." Blaine paused then shook his head, "never mind."

"What?" Kurt asked curiously.

"It's nothing."

"No, tell me." Kurt begged. "You look like you're really thinking about something."

Blaine sighed, shrugging and looking down at the railing in front of him. "You don't consider me...as Blaine then, right? I mean, even with the same name and older appearance, I'm still someone else?"

"I guess so." Kurt replied. "I hadn't really thought about it so thoroughly before, but yes, I would consider you a completely different person entirely, despite the shared name and appearance."

"Would you still want me around then even if I didn't look like Blaine?"

The question somewhat surprised Kurt and he wondered what was going on in Blaine's head at the moment. "Of course. We've spent quite a long time together by now, and I like to consider us really good friends, so of course I'd still want you around." Though having allowed himself to become so close to this Blaine was going to make things difficult once they finally had to part ways for good.

Blaine looked considerably more cheerful after hearing Kurt's response. "Good." He laughed when he spotted Kurt trying to stifle a yawn. "I think it's about time we got to sleep."

Kurt was going to protest, but he was rather tired so he agreed. He just knew that the sooner morning came the sooner he and Blaine would have to part and the thought was starting to make Kurt feel really sad.

They had quite a disagreement over who would sleep in the bed. Blaine was adamant that he was fine on the floor, but Kurt was stubbornly replying with the same thing. It wasn't until Kurt flopped down on the floor and refused to budge that Blaine finally just shyly suggested they both sleep in the bed, considering it was pretty big. Kurt's face reddened at the idea – he really hoped the lighting was just bad enough Blaine could not tell – but he ended up agreeing just because he was so tired. Once they were both comfortable they settled into silence, both trying to drift off to sleep. Kurt was barely awake when he suddenly heard Blaine's voice whispering to him in the darkness.

"What do you think would happen if we could just leave now and not stay in this world?"

Kurt thought about it for a moment before responding. "I don't know...I can't remember right this moment if I tried that before, but I'm not sure if we could. It's like the Tor somehow knows when I've finished whatever task or whatever that I have to complete here. So probably not."

He heard Blaine sigh softly in the darkness and wondered if Blaine was just as against their separation as he, himself, was.

In the morning they were awoken by a knock on the door, a voice on the other side stating that 'the prince must get ready for the day and the departure of their visitor'. Kurt was not exactly ready to wake up. He mumbled sleepily and snuggled closer to the warm body next to him.

Oh, wait. That got his eyes opening. He must have moved closer to Blaine in the night. Blaine's arm was draped over his waist and he was still sleeping soundly, unaware of the voice that had just spoken outside the room.

The movement of Kurt sitting up, however, did wake Blaine up. "Is it morning already?" He asked sleepily, sitting up as well and shaking his curls about. The sight was quite adorable to Kurt.

"Yeah," Kurt replied, yawning a bit, "I guess we have to get ready and go see if Puck was successful last night."

Both of them were silently hoping Puck had caught whatever was stealing the apples. They got ready for the day as well as they could and then tried to figure out where they needed to go in the castle. Luckily for them they found Burt, Puck, and Karofsky down in the main entrance hall at the bottom of the grand staircase.

Unluckily for them though was that Puck had not caught the apple thief, and he was being sternly told off for having fallen asleep instead. Kurt and Blaine's hearts both sunk upon hearing the news. This meant Blaine had to leave and Kurt would have to stay to help solve the problem. Kurt insisted upon seeing Blaine off, stating he would walk with him a ways down the stone road to where a carriage was apparently waiting. He tried really hard to ignore Karofsky's comment telling him not to get lost on the way back.

Once they were out of sight down the road, Blaine halted their progress to quickly pull Kurt close in a big hug. Kurt squeaked in surprise, but did not feel any inclination towards protesting instead hugging Blaine back as well. "I don't want you to go." Kurt admitted quietly, his voice slightly muffled against Blaine's shoulder.

"I don't want to leave you either." Blaine replied. "But I swear I will do my best to get back to you, Kurt. I promise."

"I'm not leaving this world without you, Blaine." Kurt told him. And it was the truth. Kurt was not letting their separation become permanent just yet. It was surprising how unprepared he was for this moment, how emotionally stressful it was.

They drew closer to the carriage that would take Blaine away and Kurt found himself taking hold of Blaine's hand, not wanting to let go. Blaine turned to him once more and reached up to rest a hand gently upon Kurt's cheek. He leaned forward and kissed Kurt's forehead before whispering in his ear. "We'll see each other again, Kurt. I will never say goodbye to you."

Kurt felt himself tearing up at the quietly spoken words. His heart was thudding painfully in his chest and he was really starting to wonder what he had gotten himself into. Watching Blaine get into the carriage actually caused the building tears to spill over and Kurt stubbornly wiped them away.

No, he would never say goodbye to Blaine either. And that was the thing – it wasn't _his_ world's Blaine he was thinking about anymore. This Blaine was his own person, built of his own personality, memories, and experiences, and Kurt adored him.

Kurt watched the carriage until it was entirely out of sight. Then he slowly made his way back to the castle, fully intending upon getting to the bottom of this apple problem as soon as possible.

Unfortunately he didn't get a chance the first night without Blaine, because the king chose Karofsky to sit watch in the garden next. Kurt awoke to find out Karofsky had fallen asleep as well however. So Kurt immediately went to the king and begged he be allowed a chance to stay up and wait in the garden. Burt was rather reluctant, feeling that there was no way Kurt could do any better than his brothers, but Kurt stubbornly begged and begged until Burt agreed.

That evening, before going into the garden, Puck gave Kurt a bow and arrow and told him to try and at least get some sort of shot into the culprit, _if_ he could. Kurt knew he wasn't the best shot with one of these, but if he really, really had to then he would at least try. The thought of actually injuring anyone or anything like an animal made him quite uncomfortable however.

Unlike Puck and Karofsky, Kurt managed to stay up past midnight and catch the apple thief. As he watched, a gold bird flew down and snagged one of the apples. Not really wanting to injure the bird, Kurt made a feeble attempt to at least aim for it with an arrow. He missed, but managed to catch a large golden feather which fluttered to the ground nearby.

In the morning he showed the feather to Burt, Puck, and Karofsky, explaining what he had seen. The king was very interested in the feather and wondered if they could possibly find the bird itself, for it must be quite valuable. Puck immediately stated that he would go off and find it.

Five days went by however and Puck did not return. So Karofsky soon stated that he would take his chances on finding the golden bird. Soon, however, it became apparent that he was not returning any time soon either. Annoyed that this task was taking so long, mainly because he was desperate to be reunited with Blaine once more, Kurt finally told the king that he was going to go look for the bird. Burt however had little faith Kurt could accomplish such a task and refused to allow him leave. Kurt persisted upon his request however and finally Burt had no choice but to give in. The king made sure Kurt was dressed and settled properly for travel before finally allowing him to go.

The beginning of Kurt's journey was uneventful, but as he neared the outskirts of a wood he happened upon a fox with a rather large bushy tail. Upon spotting Kurt the fox began to beg for its life and promised him good advice if he were to do so. Having no desire to kill any animal in general, Kurt promised the fox he would not harm it.

The fox looked relieved. "Thank you. You shall not regret it. Here's what I shall tell you, for I know what it is you seek. Soon along your travel you will come across a village in which there are two inns on opposite sides of the road. One of these two will be brightly lit and full of merriment; do not enter this one, but go and spend the night at the second one no matter what its appearance may be."

Kurt had to wonder what this second inn could look like. He agreed to follow the fox's advice, nonetheless, and the fox replied that he would help him further by taking him the long distance by taking Kurt on his tail. Kurt was barely seated when the fox took off at an extremely quick pace. When they reached the village Kurt did indeed spot the nicer looking inn, but he followed the advice he was given and spent a peaceful, quiet night at the second inn, which definitely did not look all too inviting at first glance.

The next day Kurt continued his journey. It was not long before he ran into the fox once more, which proceeded to inform Kurt that he would like to advise him once more. "If you continue straight ahead, you will reach a castle. This castle will be heavily guarded by soldiers, but have no fear for they will all be fast asleep and will not wake to your footsteps. Enter the castle and pass the rooms until you reach the one where the golden bird hangs in a wooden cage. There will be an empty golden cage nearby, but do not take the bird from the wooden cage to put it in there, for if you do misfortune will befall you."

After Kurt listened and agreed to the fox's advice he sat upon its tail once more and they sped off. When they finally reached the castle Kurt found everything as the fox had described. Still slightly paranoid that even one of the soldiers might wake, Kurt stole quietly through the castle and finally found the room holding the golden bird. The golden apples it had stolen were lying about the room, one actually sitting right next to the beautiful, empty gold cage the fox had warned him about.

Knowing what the fox had said, Kurt went to grab the wooden cage, but then he really thought about how pretty the golden bird would look in its golden cage, so he opened the wooden door and carefully got the bird and put it into the golden one.

Immediately the bird shrieked. The alarmingly loud sound woke up all the soldiers in the castle who rushed into the room and caught Kurt. He was roughly dragged off to the castle prison. Once left there till morning, Kurt sighed and scolded himself for not having followed the fox's advice.

In the morning Kurt was brought before the king of the castle. Knowing it would do him no good to lie about the event, Kurt admitted to everything. He went pale when he heard that he was to be condemned to death. However, the king decided to make him a deal. He would grant Kurt life if he could bring him the golden horse that could run faster than the wind. If he accomplished this task he would also be given the golden bird along with his life.

Kurt readily agreed to this bargain, but after he had left the castle he sighed because he had no idea where to find this golden horse. While he was walking down the road, however, he spotted the fox once more sitting by the roadside.

"You see how you have fared by disobeying me." The fox scolded. "I will help you on this new search however, so take courage. Continue going straight and you will come upon another castle. In its stable you will find the golden horse standing. Everyone there shall be asleep as they were in the last castle. When you lead out the horse, place upon its back the old saddle of wood and leather. Do _no_t touch the golden one or misfortune will once more befall you." Once more the fox helped Kurt travel to this next castle.

Upon entering the stable, Kurt found the golden horse. All the grooms and stable-men were indeed fast asleep. Sadly, Kurt made the same exact mistake as the time before, placing the gold saddle upon the horse instead of the wooden one. The horse immediately started to neigh loudly, causing all of the sleeping attendants to awake and toss Kurt into the prison.

The king of this castle sentenced Kurt to death once more, but then chose to give him one chance to redeem himself. This he could do so by bringing the king the beautiful princess he had heard of that lived in the golden castle. Kurt agreed to do so, but as he set out upon his new quest he sighed for he had no clue where to look.

Once more, however, he came across the fox. "I should not help you, for you have repetitively ignored my advice, but I am sorry for you so I will once more lend you my assistance. If you stay upon this road you shall reach the castle you seek by evening. Wait until night falls and everyone is asleep. The prince will-"

"Wait," Kurt interrupted, "_prince_? I'm supposed to be looking for a princess."

"The princess you seek has been missing for a while now." The fox replied. "But if you get the prince instead you will soon find the princess as well."

"Oh…alright." Kurt shrugged. He really hoped this would turn out well.

"Do not let him take leave of his parents however," the fox warned, "or misfortune will again befall you."

They traveled to the golden castle and once more everything happened as the fox had said. It was still evening though so Kurt waited outside the castle, in the trees off the side of the road, until night fell. As he waited he sat back and sighed, wondering where Blaine was. It had been long enough since Blaine had left that he should be at the castle by now. Thinking of Blaine made his heart hurt, like there was an emptiness inside of him that had appeared since Blaine had left. He really hoped they would see each other again soon.

Night came and Kurt quietly made his way into the castle. He had no idea where to start his search, for the fox had not told him. As he made his way through the main floor he came across a door that led out to a courtyard. The courtyard was small. A stone fountain stood in the center, surrounded by a path that led back to the doorway Kurt was standing in. He heard a small sound from somewhere in the courtyard and went to go investigate. Eventually he found what the sound was coming from. Someone else was walking in the courtyard, and that someone else was Blaine.

Blaine heard his footsteps and quickly turned about. "Kurt!" The surprised look upon his face was quickly replaced with that of relief.

Kurt could only manage to speak Blaine's name before he found himself caught up in the older man's arms. After practically squeezing all the air out of him, Blaine finally pulled away just enough that he could look at Kurt's face while still keeping his arms around him. "I've missed you. Even one day apart is too much, Kurt."

"How romantic." Kurt smirked, having trouble keeping his self from grinning over the cheesy line. Just being next to Blaine again had filled the void inside of him, making him feel complete. He had to agree, being apart even one day was too long. It was scary, the feelings he was having, but he knew they were good at the same time and it was kind of pointless by this point to deny they existed. "But weren't you supposed to be trying to escape and come back to me?"

Blaine laughed, resting his forehead against Kurt's. "I'm sorry. I know I was, but in a minute I will explain why I haven't left yet."

"In a minute?" Kurt asked in confusion. "Why not tell me-"

His eyes widened when his words were cut off by Blaine's lips pressing softly against his. It was so unexpected that he was unable to react for a moment, but, when he finally did, he did not panic or push Blaine away. This was not like the kiss he had gotten from Karofsky in the locker room at McKinley; it was not rough, disgusting, and unwanted. No, this kiss was gentle, pleasant, yet slightly hesitant as if Blaine was unsure how Kurt would respond.

When Blaine finally pulled away he was watching Kurt carefully, his voice barely above a whisper when he spoke. "Was that okay?"

"That was- that was more than okay." Kurt admitted, his cheeks having gone slightly pinkish. "Unexpected, but okay."

"Good," Blaine grinned brightly, "because I kind of want to do that more often."

Kurt really wanted to squeal at the moment, because he was a little bit over excited about the fact that he had just been kissed by such an attractive and wonderful guy. Of course now he had to wonder where this left them in terms of relationship status, and what this would mean for them when they finally had to part, but then he remembered why he was here in the first place and he knew he would have to wait till later to think about everything.

"I can't disagree with that." Kurt replied. "Unfortunately we're going to have to put this on hold for a moment, because I really need to get you out of here."

Blaine bit his lip and looked back towards the doorway Kurt had come through. "And that's where I tell you why I haven't left yet." He went on to explain that, since he had returned, the king and queen had pretty much kept him locked inside the castle and made sure to add extra security. Their other child, the princess, had disappeared long before Blaine had and therefore they were worried about losing their son as well. Blaine admitted that he had tried to escape at night, but had been caught.

"Well, everyone is asleep now," Kurt told him, "so we can get you out of here. And then I can go get that ridiculous bird for my dad, well, my dad in this world, and then we can leave here for good."

"Sounds good to me." Blaine smiled. "But…at the same time, I _would_ like to say farewell to my- well, this world's Blaine's parents."

Kurt did not understand why he would want to say goodbye to them, if they had been the ones locking him up in here. Plus he remembered what the fox had told him so he reluctantly had to try and convince Blaine it wasn't a good idea. Unfortunately Blaine was being decidedly stubborn about his decision to say farewell to the Andersons. Kurt finally had to just ask why.

"I know they locked me up in here," Blaine explained, "but at the same time…they've been really nice to me. It's just like how there's so many different Blaines; these two look just like my real parents, except they're different. They treat me better and I just…it felt like being in a real family. Please," he took Kurt's hand in both of his own and raised it to his lips, kissing it softly, "I won't take long."

Kurt knew bad things had happened every time he had not followed the fox's advice, but how could he deny this simple request? Especially when Blaine was giving him those sweet, puppy eyes? So he let Blaine say farewell to the king and queen.

Unfortunately as soon as Blaine woke up the king, things went horribly wrong, as Kurt had feared they would. Once more he found himself shut up in a castle prison till morning. This king was going to sentence Kurt to death as well, unless he somehow managed to remove the mountain that stood before one of the windows of the castle, blocking everyone's view, in eight days. If Kurt completed this task then he would live, and they would allow Blaine to go with Kurt on his journey.

Not being one to really enjoy physical labor, Kurt was pretty sure there was no way he could remove the entire mountain in eight days, but he really did not want to die either so he agreed. For seven days he attempted to dig at the mountain, but he began to grow increasingly frustrated when he saw how little he had accomplished.

On the evening of the seventh day the fox appeared. "You really don't deserve my help, but again I shall. Lie down and rest and I will finish the job." Kurt felt really bad for having not followed the fox's advice so many times. He protested and said that the fox had already done enough for him, and that this was his own fault so he needed to fix the problem. The fox shook its head and insisted. So in the end Kurt got cleaned up and rested and in the morning he woke to see the entire mountain gone.

Feeling relieved knowing that he was going to get to live now; Kurt went to the king and told him that since he had completed the task he would now get to leave and Blaine was coming with him. The king and queen reluctantly agreed and the two were allowed to leave the castle.

"How exactly did you manage getting rid of that mountain?" Blaine asked as soon as they were on the road.

"Oh, I had some help." Kurt replied, grinning when Blaine took his hand as they went.

It was not long down the road before they came across the fox. Kurt then told Blaine that it was with the fox's help that he had managed to get rid of the mountain, and had made it in the first place to the castle Blaine had been at.

The fox spoke to them then, explaining that they needed to return to the castle prior to Blaine's to get the golden horse, for it belonged to the lost princess. When asked how they should get it the fox told Kurt to take Blaine to the castle and explain to the king there that Blaine was the princess' brother, and that he could find her for them. The king would then give Kurt the horse and Blaine should approach Kurt under the pretense of saying farewell. Blaine would just have to get on the horse and then they could ride off, for no one could catch the golden horse that ran faster than the wind.

Seeing as it was their only option, next to stealing the horse (which neither of them figured would go well), they agreed to the fox's plan and made their way back to the castle Kurt was at prior to Blaine's. Once there everything went according to plan and they fled the castle on the golden horse, hearing the angry shouts of the king and his people behind them.

Next they had to retrieve the golden bird as well, since that was the reason for Kurt's journey in the first place. The fox, who had accompanied them from the last castle, explained that, once they reached the castle that held the bird, Blaine should stay with it and wait while Kurt rode the horse into the castle courtyard. When the king and his people would see him they would rejoice and the king would have the golden bird brought out. As soon as Kurt had the bird in hand he should ride off again, returning to where they'd be waiting.

This also went as planned, just as the fox described, and soon Kurt had the golden bird in hand. He returned to where Blaine and the fox had been waiting and they made their way back to the first castle where Burt would be waiting.

They were drawing close to where the two inns stood when the fox halted their progress. It explained that as they were drawing near the end of their journey it was time Kurt rewarded it for its assistance.

"Of course!" Kurt would gladly help the fox who had been such a great help to him.

"When we reach the edge of the wood before the inns," the fox spoke, "you must shoot me dead and cut off my head and paws."

Kurt gave the fox a horrified look, as did Blaine who asked why. The fox would not explain and Kurt could not agree to do so. What sort of reward would that be?

"Well then, if you refuse then I must leave," the fox replied, "but before I go I must give you one last piece of advice: be careful upon these next two hours. Take heed that you not buy any gallows-flesh and by all means do not sit down beside a well."

With that the fox was off, running into the woods, leaving a very confused Kurt and Blaine behind. "What ever could he mean by that?" Kurt questioned. "I can easily avoid a well, and why would I want to buy someone about to hang?" Blaine could not give a good reply, so they both shrugged and continued upon their journey.

Shortly after they reached the village where the two inns stood, though it was not nearly as quiet as the first time Kurt passed through. Wondering what the loud fuss was about, Kurt and Blaine approached a villager in question. The older lady explained that two men were about to be hanged. Kurt had no desire to see two people being hanged, but just as they were going to leave they caught sight of the two doomed men. It was this world's Kurt's brothers: Puck and David.

Kurt experienced a rather quick internal battle then. Did he dislike Karofsky and could admit to being terrified of him? Yes. Did he believe the guy should die? Well, honestly, no, for either of the Karofskys. He had nothing against this world's Karofsky, because this was not the same guy who bullied him every day and had kissed him in the boy's locker room at school. Sure this Karofsky still seemed like a jerk, but one had to hope he wasn't nearly as bad.

"Kurt?" Blaine's voice interrupted his thoughts. "I can tell you're thinking. What are we going to do? I'm not sure if we should go about letting people get killed here, but…" he trailed off, letting the final decision fall to Kurt.

"You're right. We can't let them die." Kurt replied heavily. "We don't even belong in this world, so if we do nothing to save them then it's almost like it's our fault. What if the Kurt that does belong here returns and is sad because his brothers are dead?" Though judging by how the brothers treated him as Kurt, he was pretty sure this world's Kurt wouldn't mind _too _terribly. "And if not for Kurt, then at least for the king. We can't go back to him and tell him his two eldest sons are dead, knowing that we could have prevented their deaths from happening."

Blaine nodded in agreement. "Alright, so we're going to save them then. We should probably hurry, because it looks like they're about to start…"

So the two hurried over to where the crowd had gathered, both pushing their way to the front. As the leader of the village was about to finish speaking, they both shouted out for him to stop. The two elder brothers both looked over in surprise, though surprise shortly then turned to relief.

The village leader was puzzled at first as to why the two would want to save the condemned, but once Kurt explained that the two were his brothers and that he would pay for their lives – he was thankful then that Burt had made sure he brought plenty of money along – Puck and David were let free.

"Thanks for that." Puck told Kurt and Blaine after they had left the village.

"Yeah," David added, "we'd have been dead if it weren't for you two. Looks like you got the bird too. What's he doing with you?" He indicated towards Blaine. "Thought he was supposed to be at his home."

"Well Kurt's travels led him to my parents' castle." Blaine replied. "He needed to find the missing princess for the king who gave us this horse."

"So Kurt got the golden bird, this golden horse, and found a princess?" Puck raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

Kurt rolled his eyes, sighing. "Well, we didn't exactly find the princess. She's Blaine's sister or whatever, and so we told the king Blaine would help him find her."

"Oh," Puck shrugged, "so you're still looking. Maybe we can help." David nodded in agreement.

Kurt wondered why they would want to help. Was it too risky to assume that after Kurt and Blaine had saved their lives, Puck and David were now going to be nice to them? Probably, but maybe it was safe, at least for now anyway, to give them the benefit of the doubt.

A short while into their traveling, the two older brothers stated that they wanted to take a quick break. So the entire group stopped to rest by an old well.

Too late did Kurt remember the fox's warning; he had barely sat down on the edge of the well when he found himself pushed backwards into it by David. He barely had time to scream out before he was falling down. Luckily the well was dry and the bottom was covered with a thick layer of leaves and moss – dirty, but it saved him from anymore damage beyond that of getting the wind knocked out of him. The light from the sun could barely reach him at its current angle, allowing for only dimly lit surroundings.

"Kurt!"

Kurt looked up at the sound of Blaine shouting down at him. He could not see Blaine's face, but he could hear him as he continued to call down. Suddenly Blaine's voice was cut off and the air was filled with silence. Kurt did not know what that meant, and he was suddenly quite fearful that something bad had happened to Blaine.

He finally managed to get himself up to a seated position, checking the walls around him for any means of escape. If he could climb up the walls of the well then he'd be good. Unfortunately the walls were all quite flat.

It felt like an eternity before Kurt heard any signs of life besides that of the chirps of birds. A faint rustling sound came from outside the well and suddenly Kurt spotted the head of a familiar creature staring down at him.

"You forgot to follow my advice again, didn't you?" The fox asked.

Kurt nodded, unsure if the fox could make the motion out or not since it had grown considerably darker inside the well. "I just wanted to save K- I mean, my brothers."

"And here you are." The fox replied. "Well, I cannot abandon you so, here, grab hold of my tail and I shall pull you up."

Once Kurt was up and out of the well he tried to brush the dirt off his clothes as he thanked the fox. "No need for thanks yet." The fox replied. "You are still in danger, for your brothers do not believe you dead and have sent spies into the wood to kill you if you are seen."

Great. Kurt sighed, wondering how he was supposed to get back to the castle if people were out trying to make sure he was dead for good. He really just wanted to find Blaine and get back to the Tor, so they could leave this world.

They continued along the road outside the wood, the fox moving ahead occasionally to look out for spies. It was not until they had traveled for about an hour that they stumbled upon another person. They were passing by an exceptionally large tree when they heard the sound of someone, or something, groaning. Wondering what it was, the fox cautiously approached the tree and peeked around to the other side of it. Kurt could barely contain his curiosity and snuck a peek around the tree too.

"Blaine!" Kurt cried out, dropping down to his knees next to his- well, whatever they were by this point - friends? Something more? He did not know. Behind him he heard the fox run off, but he was too busy focusing on Blaine to care where to.

Blaine appeared to be slightly disoriented, but he managed to lift his head and focus on Kurt's face. "Kurt?" He slumped forward a bit and Kurt caught him, gasping in shock when he spotted the matted blood on the back of Blaine's head.

"Blaine, who did this to you?!" Kurt exclaimed, trying to remember what he should do in a situation like this. Blaine probably needed more help than he could give him at the moment. "Oh god, it was probably Puck or David, wasn't?"

"Yeah…" Blaine replied quietly, "One of them got me right after they pushed you into the well. That's the last thing I remember before waking up here." He tried to sit up again, but Kurt refused to let him.

"Stop trying to move. You're going to make yourself dizzy or pass out again." Kurt scolded. "I need you to stay with me here, Blaine. Somehow we'll get you some help. I just have to make it through the woods without being killed…" He trailed off, wondering what the heck he was going to do about this entire mess.

"Killed?" Blaine asked in confusion.

Before Kurt could reply the fox spoke up, having returned by their sides. "I will stay with him so you can continue to your father's castle. Shortly down the road you will find a man. Offer to trade clothing with him and then no one will recognize you. Return to the castle and make things well again there so you may bring a medic here where we shall wait."

Kurt was scared to leave Blaine in the condition he was in, but he knew the only way to make things better was to do as the fox said. So he agreed and said farewell to Blaine and the fox, continuing his journey down the road. This time he was intent upon following all of his animal guide's advice.

Down the road then he did indeed spot a man, just as the fox had said. Kurt did have some issues with the idea of switching clothes with a stranger, but if the fox said it would help him become unrecognizable then he would do so. So Kurt managed to convince the stranger to trade clothing with him and then he continued upon his way. He met no spies or threatening persons for the rest of his journey and soon he came upon the familiar garden with the golden tree.

No one recognized him within the castle, also just how the fox had said. Just by passing through Kurt heard about how the two elder brothers had arrived hours before with the golden bird and horse. Yet what surprised him about this news was that apparently the bird had been unresponsive since its arrival and would not make a sound, and the horse was refusing to eat or make a sound as well!

Kurt was sticking close to the main entrance hall when suddenly there was quite a loud ruckus heard nearby. He looked up in time to see the golden bird flying down from the top of the main staircase. Before he had a chance to get out of its way, the bird had landed on his shoulder and was making quite a racket. He winced at the loud sounds the bird was making right next to his ear.

"What is the meaning to this?" The sound of Burt's voice could be heard, questioning the two elder brothers as they made their way down the staircase to where Kurt was standing. Neither Puck nor David could reply, because neither of them had an answer.

Just as they made it to the bottom of the staircase, Burt was about to question Kurt when a stable boy ran into the main entrance hall. He explained with much excitement that the golden horse had decided to start eating and had even neighed at them.

Burt turned to Kurt, who was still getting his ear deafened by the loud bird, and questioned him. "Who are you that these creatures suddenly liven up upon your presence? For they were practically inactive until you had- wait." He studied Kurt closely with a curious expression. "You're not- can it be…"

Kurt pulled the hat off that had been sitting upon his head and nodded. "Yep. It's me." Oh how he wished he was answering the same question to his actual father, from his own world, right now instead of this other Burt. "And I'm the one who found the golden bird and golden horse. These two," he indicated towards the two elder brothers, "were going to be hung, but I saved them. As thanks they pushed me into a well and they knocked Blaine out-"

"Blaine?"

"Er, yeah, I met up with him again during my journey and he ended up coming back with me." Kurt explained. "Apparently though, after they pushed me into the well, one of them hit Blaine with something and while he was still unconscious they left him elsewhere."

"He's still alive though, right?" Burt asked. Kurt nodded in reply, explaining that he had met someone on his journey that had helped him and that this guide had stayed behind to watch over Blaine. They just needed to get a doctor out to him.

Burt glared at his two eldest sons and angrily told them he would deal with them later. Then he took Kurt aside and explained that he was going to get his best doctors out to help Blaine, and that he would come along with. Hearing this had Kurt's eyes watering and he could not resist hugging Burt tightly. He wasn't Kurt's real father, but he was so very much alike Kurt's father that it felt like it was really him.

It wasn't long before their little group made it back to the area Kurt had left Blaine and the fox. Kurt was just about to call out to the two when the fox appeared in front of them. The other men were startled and about to react when Kurt stopped them, explaining that the fox had been his guide throughout his journey. The men were baffled until they heard the fox speak, telling Kurt that Blaine was still awake but was having more and more trouble at remaining so.

Kurt immediately took off for the tree and crouched down next to Blaine. He was relieved to see Blaine lift his head in greeting. There was barely any time for them to talk before the doctors were next to them as well. After reassuring Blaine that it would be okay, Kurt found himself being pulled aside by Burt, leaving Blaine in the doctors' care.

"I've been wondering." Burt spoke quietly, intending that their conversation was not to be heard by the rest of their group. "Ever since you and Blaine both showed up, well, one, you've been different, and two, one of the gardeners found a peculiar box-like structure in our garden."

Kurt was not sure how to respond. Sure he had told people from other worlds before that he was not from their world, but he was pretty sure none of them had guessed it before by themselves.

"And I couldn't help but notice how close you and Blaine are." Burt commented. "Which is especially odd, considering when he and his family visited two months ago you wanted nothing to do with him."

"Oh?" Kurt responded questioningly before he could stop himself. He was a little shocked. Was the real Kurt from this world not gay? Or did he really just not like Blaine? Maybe the real Blaine from this world wasn't gay. He hadn't really considered that angle yet. After all, he couldn't just assume the other Kurts and Blaines were all alike. It had just seemed that, in almost all the worlds he had gone to so far, he and the Blaine in those worlds had some sort of connection; even the married ones, which meant not having a romantic connection, but a connection of some sort, like they were supposed to find one another.

Maybe he was just looking too far into it and making stuff up in his head.

"'Oh?'" Burt shook his head, looking like he couldn't understand how that was all Kurt had to say on the matter.

Kurt sighed, figuring he may as well speak the truth because this guy was as good at seeing a lie as his real father was. "Look, I know this is going to be difficult to believe, but…I'm not your son. And he," Kurt indicated towards Blaine, "is not the Blaine you met two months ago." Burt looked slightly puzzled by Kurt's admission, but he nodded and allowed Kurt to continue.

"I'm not even from your world." Kurt explained. "This Blaine isn't either, and he's not even from my world. It'd take too long to tell you all the details, but basically I found myself stuck traveling in that box-like thing you found in the garden, jumping from world to world, and trying to keep away from this evil witch who wants this key I have."

"A key? Why would she want that?"

Kurt shrugged in response. "I don't know. It can lock and unlock anything I need it to, apparently. I think there might be stuff I wasn't told about it, but all I know is that she isn't supposed to have it. And every world I go to I keep finding…well, they're like twins of people from my own world, except they're slightly different of course due to the fact that they've grown up in different circumstances. Blaine's been in almost every world I've gone to, except this Blaine here with us now kind of accidentally came along with me when I jumped worlds. Since then there hasn't been any new Blaines in any of the worlds' we've come across. That, and the fact that there's supposed to be another Kurt here yet he's disappeared, leads me to believe that two of the same people can't be in the same world at once."

Burt did not look too thrilled at that last little bit of information. "Wait, so you're saying my real son is not even in the same _world_ as me right now? Will I get him back once you leave?"

Kurt was glad this Burt was taking things at least somewhat well. As to his question though, well, Kurt had no conclusive answer to that. "I'm not sure, honestly. I don't know where he is right this very moment. All we can hope is that once Blaine and I leave this world, your Kurt and the other Blaine will return. I don't know how these things work. I can't come back and check either, because I have no control over what world my traveling device goes to."

"Hm…" Burt looked thoughtful, "well, I hope they do return here again."

"I hope so too." Kurt agreed. "I'm sure they're both missing their parents right now." He knew _he_ was.

Burt gave him a look then reached out to gently touch Kurt's shoulder. "I'm sure your parents are missing you too."

"My mom's dead, but my dad…" Kurt shook his head, trying not to think too much about how much he missed his father.

"I look like him, don't I?" Burt questioned, smiling sadly when Kurt nodded in response. "After hearing all this, and recalling how emotional you were when you first saw me, well, I had to wonder. You'll return to him soon, Kurt."

Kurt only gave him a watery smile and turned to look back at Blaine. It looked like the medics were just about finished. One of the medics stood and approached them, explaining that Blaine would be alright, but he would need lots of rest to finish recovering; plus the wound on his head needed to heal properly. This worried Kurt a bit. He knew Blaine needed time to recover, but they would have to travel again at some point. What if he left Blaine here, in this world?

No. He couldn't. It was selfish, but he wanted Blaine to stay with him for as long as possible.

Just as Kurt was about to go over to check on Blaine, a strange breeze blew past and he looked up to see a darkening sky. The clouds looked ominous, and familiar…

"It's her; the witch." Kurt told the king quickly, wondering if they would have a chance to escape or not. They couldn't move quickly while trying to keep Blaine safe. Blaine probably wasn't capable of being moved yet anyway. Before they had a chance to do anything though, something completely unexpected happened.

The golden bird flew into the area, zoning in on Kurt, and started to attack him. Its cries were loud in Kurt's ears as he brought his arms up to protect himself. There was an odd tugging at his neck and then the bird was suddenly gone, having been whacked aside by Burt. Kurt's arms were covered in scratches that bled, and there was a rather large cut close to his neck. He paid no attention at first, swinging wildly around to see the bird flying off at an astonishingly fast pace. Was it just his imagination or was there something hanging from its beak?

Suddenly Kurt gasped and clutched at his neck. The key! The thin corded necklace that held the silver key was gone! Kurt's mouth dropped open in shock, and horror. What was he supposed to do now? Why had the golden bird stolen it from him? As the group watched the direction the bird has disappeared to, they all soon noticed the dark, heavy clouds gradually fading away.


	13. Interlude 2

_Oh hey, internets! Been quite busy and such, yay real life! ...no that wasn't sarcasm you detected. Not at all. _

_ANYWAY...we're nearing the end of this...or are we? Decided to make this into 2 parts, soooo...no, I'm not telling you why, sillies! _

* * *

><p>Kurt couldn't believe it. The key he had been doing so well at keeping safe had now been stolen. The bird must have been working for the Witch, but how had she managed to make it do so?<p>

"Kurt? Kurt, come on, sit down over here so the doctors can look at those cuts."

The voice of the king hardly reached Kurt's ears. His body was frozen from shock and despair, and he could barely feel himself being led over to a spot he could sit and have his cuts attended to.

The key was gone. What did that mean? Would the Tor no longer work for him? Was he stuck here in this world now forever? What would happen now that the Witch had the key in her possession? Clearly something awful, considering the brothers had been so adamant about her _not_ having it.

He barely realized the doctors were done tending to him until suddenly Blaine's face was in front of his. Concern and worry were visible in Blaine's eyes as he took Kurt's face in his hands gently. "Kurt?"

"It's gone, Blaine." Kurt told him in a cracked voice. "The bird took the key and it's given it to the Witch and now- what if we're stuck here? What if _I'm_ stuck here forever?" The thought of never being able to return to his own father, his own world where his own friends lived, was too much for Kurt and he covered his face with his hands, shaking as Blaine hugged him tightly.

Someone else approached them and Blaine carefully turned his aching head to see the king sitting down next to Kurt, placing a comforting hand upon Kurt's back.

"I'm going to do everything I can to help the two of you," Burt told them quietly, "but Kurt, Blaine isn't well enough to travel and now you have injuries as well. Who knows what horrible things this Witch has planned and what will happen now that she has the key, but I do know that neither of you will be able to do much good while injured. Stay here for a few days, or however long it takes for you both to heal and meanwhile we will think heavily upon what must be done to get you both on your journey once more."

Kurt did not want to waste any more time from trying to get home, but the king had a point. His own injuries were not that bad and would hopefully heal quickly; Blaine's, however, would take a bit longer, and Kurt had no intention of leaving him behind. He could not just test the Tor by himself either to see if it could at least work, because if it did then he would be gone and most likely would never be able to return to get Blaine. If only he could contact those brothers he had met at the beginning of his journey. If only he could return _home_…

Their entire group carefully made its way back to the castle. As it was getting late, Blaine and Kurt were allowed to return to the room, belonging to their current world's Kurt, to rest. In the morning they would find that the king had informed Puck and David that they would be sent far away, having been banished from the kingdom for their horrible actions.

It did not take long for Kurt's cuts to heal. Blaine's head wound took a bit longer to heal, so when the doctors finally gave him permission to travel both he and Kurt were relived. It was time to move forward…if they could.

Neither of them had approached the Tor since the incident with the golden bird. No one had been able to figure out what could be done about Kurt and Blaine's situation either if the Tor happened to no longer work for them. And if bad things were happening now because of the Witch having the key, well, there was nothing to tell of it here in this world so far.

On the day that Kurt and Blaine finally decided to test out the Tor Burt was the only one who came out to join them. The three of them had decided not to inform anyone else about the predicament and, therefore, Burt was really the only who knew it could possibly be time to say goodbye to the two.

"What if nothing happens?" Kurt asked nervously, eying the box-like traveling device.

"Then we'll figure something else out, Kurt." Blaine promised him, reaching out to touch his shoulder lightly. "If all else fails…"

The king smiled sadly at the two as he spoke. "As horrible as the idea may be, especially considering how badly you wish to return home, Kurt, if this thing no longer works and you are stuck here for the rest of your lives…I would gladly have you live here with me and make this castle your home."

Kurt gave the king a grateful, yet sad smile. "Thank you. I really appreciate it very much. If- if this thing does work and we can no longer return, I would like you to know that what you have done for me here means a lot and I could never thank you enough. I can only hope that once Blaine and I have gone your real son and this world's real Blaine return."

There were hugs and more goodbyes, until Kurt realized he could stall no longer. He was terrified that they may find the Tor unresponsive, and, as much as he liked this world and its copy of his father, he _really_ wanted to continue finding his way home, back to his own world.

As Kurt took the handle of the door to open it, he quickly shot Blaine a nervous look. "Moment of truth…" Blaine whispered, having grabbed Kurt's hand in their shared anxiousness. The door opened easily enough – which was a relief – but the real test still stood. They needed to go inside now and see if, after shutting the door, they would leave for another world or not.

Saying one last goodbye to the king, Kurt and Blaine both went inside the Tor and finally shut the door. How could they tell if anything happened? They agreed to wait for a long while, sitting on the floor together, Kurt leaning his head upon Blaine's shoulder. When it felt like a good half hour or so had passed, Blaine finally stood, reaching his hand down to help Kurt stand as well.

"Ready to look?"

"No." Kurt admitted, his voice sounding small even to his own ears. "We can't stay in here forever though, so let's go." They both went to the door and Kurt let Blaine reach out to open it. Kurt held his breath, hoping that whatever they were about to see was not the same garden they had just been in.

Once the door was open Kurt was instantly relieved – they were no longer in the garden with the king from the last world. However, his relief quickly dissipated when he saw the familiar huge, empty room – the very same room he had landed in at the start of his journey. The two thrones in the center of the room, however, were no longer standing, having been destroyed, as had all the glass windows and stone flooring of the room itself. It was a disaster area and Kurt had no idea why they had ended up here.

"Ah, Kurt Hummel." A voice nearby them spoke. "What have you done?"

* * *

><p>The king was just as nervous, waiting to see if the two travelers would be able to continue their journey. As sad as he was to see them grow, Burt was quite hoping that his own son would be returned to him, as would his world's Blaine. It was such a strange thing, knowing that there were different worlds out there from one's own. He could only hope that Kurt and Blaine would be able to find that Witch and get the key back, and return Kurt to his own world once more.<p>

As Burt stood there, the huge box-like structure in front of him suddenly disappeared. There was no warning – it was just gone.

"Strange…" He hoped that its disappearance meant everything was still working for them.

Now that they were gone though, Burt looked around and wondered if he would soon know whether or not his real son had returned. A sound nearby soon startled him and he immediately went to investigate. Half way to where he had heard the noise, he spotted someone stuck up in the golden tree. Actually, not one person, but two people; they both sounded quite confused, and seemed to be trying to figure out how to get down from the tall tree.

Burt drew closer and, with a jolt of happiness, realized it was his son, which meant the other person was Blaine. His initial feeling of happiness however was crushed as quickly as it came though when he realized that, yes, it was his son and Blaine, but, at the same time, they weren't.

The new Kurt and Blaine in his world were children, each barely over the age of ten.


	14. Interlude 3

_I have internet again woooo! Our internet likes to go on and off a lot, and sometimes it likes to make it look like it's on when it really isn't. So I get home and am like 'YAY!' and then... 'OMG INTERNETS, YOU FREAKING TROLL!' . Yep yep. Anywhos...this is the second to last chapter for part 1. I've got all sorts of craziness planned for part 2; it's exciting!_

_And yes, I'm still working on my other stuff, I swear! Just...not as much since I have real life to deal with. Blah. I know. It sucks. I'm sorry. _

* * *

><p>One of the brothers – was it Wilhem or Jakob? – was standing before them now, a weary, disappointed look upon his face.<p>

"You seem to have misplaced your key." The brother pointed out sadly.

The guilt from when he had first realized the key was no longer in his possession was nothing compared to the guilt Kurt now felt while being face to face with one of the people who initially entrusted him with its care. He could barely bring himself to lift his head as he finally spoke up to the brother.

"I'm sorry…" Kurt apologized, "I really did try to keep it safe. It's just-"

"We weren't expecting the Witch to have had that bird working for her." Blaine spoke up, thinking it was a bit unfair for Kurt to take all the blame considering they'd had no idea the bird was working for the Witch and, therefore, had not expected it to attack.

The brother looked at Blaine in puzzlement before finally replying. "The Witch has many employed in her evil doing. And why, may I ask, are you here? You should not be away from your world."

"It was an accident." Kurt explained. "Blaine's involvement in the rest of my journey after leaving his world was not my intention when I finally chose to leave. Since then we obviously haven't been able to return to his world. Which reminds me," he huffed, folding his arms across his chest, "neither you nor your brother really gave me a lot to work with here before I left to start this whole journey. The least you could do now is tell me _why_ I'm even doing all this in the first place, because as it's not fair for Blaine to have had to leave his world it's equally not as fair to have dragged me from my own as well."

"I can't tell you that yet, Kurt." The brother told him. "And you know exactly why neither I nor Jakob were able to tell you more. Ever since the Witch's attack my brother has been missing. I cannot leave this room to search for him either and, as such, have sent others to do so."

Kurt did not really understand, mainly because he had no clue what role the brothers played in this entire thing. Who were they really?

"Why can't you leave to look for him yourself?" Blaine asked curiously.

Wilhem sighed, sitting down on what looked to be a piece of one of the old thrones from before it had been destroyed. "This is something I can tell you, and may hopefully explain why keeping the key safe had been such an important task. This room we are in sits in the very center of our universe, surrounded by each and every single world that exits, including all the ones you have visited upon your travels. My brother and I are in charge of watching over these worlds, and have been for hundreds of years."

Woah. How old did that make them then? Kurt definitely could not imagine living for that long. Unless he could remain wrinkle free, that is, then he might not completely mind.

"The Tor is the only way for outsiders to travel between worlds, but Jakob and I can do so ourselves without it." Wilhem continued. "Only one of us can leave this room at a time however because of people like the Witch. To put it simply: this room is like a control room; my brother and I keep order between the worlds, making sure none of them collide and mix, and if we both were to leave then this room would be vulnerable to attack. The Witch could easily take over this entire universe if she had access."

"She was here before though." Kurt spoke up.

"Yes," Wilhem nodded, "but since we were here it was possible to banish her from the room. I do not know why Jakob has disappeared, but hopefully one of our hunters will find him soon."

"And what do you mean by 'making sure none of the worlds collide and mix'?" Blaine asked.

"If worlds were to mix then their stories would be ruined. Lives would be changed and chaos would eventually take over." Wilhem explained. "These worlds were never created to exist with the knowledge of its sisters and brothers. The only world that would remain unaffected would be Earth, Kurt's world."

Kurt was surprised by this piece of information. "Why wouldn't Earth be affected by all of this?"

"Earth does not exist in this universe." Wilhem told him. "Earth exists outside of it, because that is where this all began, where _we _– my brother and I began. Jakob and I created this universe and its worlds."

This was a lot to take in. The more Kurt heard, the more questions he had. His main question was the one he was most terrified to ask. Since Earth was not even in their current universe, did that mean he would not be able to go home? What if the Tor could not get there? And how did the brothers manage to create an entire universe all by themselves?

"How does the key fit into all of this?" Blaine wondered out loud.

"The key gives one control over any lock, and over the Tor itself." Wilhem explained. "However, it is also the only thing that is – well, er, _was_ – preventing the Witch from gaining complete control over this room. There's a pillar at the other end of the room that holds a globe wherein we can view each world in turn. You need the key though to gain access to it. I suspect she will be here at some point in the near future and, sadly, I will no longer be able to defend this room from her presence. Now that she has the key she will have complete control over all of the worlds. We know of her plans and the damage she will cause will be severe."

"What will happen?"

The brother shook his head sadly. "She plans to merge all the worlds into one, ruling over them all with her terrifying power."

This was horrible news and, as badly as Kurt wanted to return home to his own world, he knew he could not leave until this mess was fixed and the Witch destroyed.

"Kurt? What are you thinking about?" Blaine asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Kurt took a deep breath, still slightly wishing this was all just some crazy nightmare that he would soon wake from. "I can't go home until everything is put right. It wouldn't be right for me not to, especially considering I was the one who let that bird get the key. But…" he turned to Wilhem, "if- well, once we get rid of the Witch, will I be able to return home then? She told me in one of the worlds that the key was keeping me from returning home; is that true?"

"No." Wilhem shook his head. "She was lying. Neither the key nor the Tor is responsible for keeping you from getting home."

"But…" Kurt was confused, "when I first met you and your brother you said the Tor was the way for me to return home. Can it not travel to Earth?"

"We told you it would take you where you need to go." Wilhem replied. "We never said it would take you directly home."

"Then how…I don't understand." Kurt was starting to feel slightly frustrated. "What do I need to get home then?"

To this question Wilhem smiled knowingly. "That is something you already have. You just haven't realized it yet."

Now Kurt was starting to feel really confused. He already had what he needed to get home? How could that be? How could he have something without even realizing it? Apparently Blaine was just as confused as Kurt was, because he shared Kurt's puzzled expression.

Wilhem sensed Kurt's impending question because he shook his head then and spoke before Kurt could even respond. "Again, that is something I am not able to tell you as of yet. I know I am leaving you with a lot of questions, but I promise you answers will come-"

The three of them looked up towards the cracked, glass ceiling in unison. A loud booming noise had sounded above them and outside the glass clouds were gathering; the dark, thick masses causing the light in the room to dim, making everything barely visible. A sudden explosion rocked the room, sending the three in the room to the floor. A huge chunk of the left wall was destroyed as stone flew in every which direction.

Kurt looked up from his spot on the floor just in time to see the figure of the golden bird land nearby. He managed to sit up as he sent a glare towards the bird he had gone through so much to collect.

"And here I thought you two were good friends." The voice of the Witch came across the room. The three of them looked over to see the Witch entering the room through the hole she had just blasted through the wall. "Yet here you are glaring at my poor pet." The golden bird screeched and flew over to land on her shoulder. The Witch looked positively delighted to be in the room, though the look created a dreadful expression with the evil glint in her eyes.

"I really can't be friends with an animal that attacked me." Kurt glared. "And I swear, you're just lucky those scratches didn't scar. I haven't exactly learned how to make those look glamorous yet."

The Witch laughed; the sound dry and humorless as it left her throat. "Scarring should be the least of your concerns right now, boy. You've been avoiding me long enough."

She slowly approached where Kurt was sitting. As Kurt managed to stand and back away, he heard Blaine call his name and turned his head in time to see Blaine fly back and hit one of the broken pieces of wall as the Witch glared at him. Blaine managed to move afterward, but he looked like he was in a lot of pain. Kurt wanted to run and see if Blaine was alright, but the Witch was standing between them and he knew he wouldn't be able to get past her without being flung aside as well.

"I've had enough of you as well." The Witch hissed. "You've been a hindrance in each and every single world. I'm just glad I killed you off in that one, otherwise I might have lost the chance of having little Kurt here practically give me the key himself."

Kurt knew what world she meant. The wooded one; where the king Blaine had kissed him right before being killed by the Witch. Having to think about that all again was painful for Kurt. Plus the Witch had called him 'little'. She was really making him angry; he was starting to wish he had something like a lighter to set her dry, nasty hair on fire. What she had said last had somewhat confused him though. "What do you mean by you might have lost the chance?"

"Oh?" The Witch looked even more thrilled after hearing his question. "So you haven't figured out how to get home yet, have you?"

"Don't you tell him!" Wilhem spoke up, having finally gotten himself up off the floor and was approaching them. "He has to figure it out for himself."

The Witch shot the brother a horrible look and shrugged. "Or, since I now rule this place," she held the key up for them to see, "I can just send him home myself. If you'd taken the key from him when he first arrived here you could have sent him back yourselves. Now you'll lose him and your power. After I get rid of you and these two I'll find that nasty brother of yours and off him too. Then no one can stand in my way."

"You're not sending me anywhere." Kurt told her angrily. There was definitely more going on here than he knew about, and why couldn't the brothers have just sent him home in the first place then? "I'm staying right here until we get rid of you."

"And what makes you think you can stop me?" The Witch sneered.

"He has me."

Kurt looked over to see Blaine had managed to stand back up. The Witch was glaring at him, but there seemed to be something else in her expression, something that Kurt could not make out. Was it fear? Worry?

"The two of you against me is hardly anything to worry about." She laughed.

Blaine seemed to believe otherwise, because his smile did not falter as he continued to speak. "You won't hurt us or what we have, and we will work together to defeat you. This might not have been my battle to fight in the beginning, but it is now because Kurt's life is being threatened and I love him."

Those three little words barely had time to register in Kurt's mind before everything went dark. It was as if he had just blacked out. As soon as it had happened however, he was back, his mind sluggish as he tried to figure out what had just happened, meanwhile trying to see what was happening in the room.

_Come on, Kurt. Don't pass out now…_

Everything was slow. The Witch seemed to be shouting something horrible and was aiming her staff towards him, a horrible look upon her face. Kurt could not get his legs to move. Whatever spell the Witch was aiming at him he would not be able to dodge…

The last second Kurt was shoved out of the way, his shoulder roughly hitting a broken piece of stone as he fell. Everything seemed to finally speed up as he looked back and realized what had happened.

Wilhem had been the one to shove Kurt out of the way; having taken the spell from the Witch that had not been meant for him. Kurt's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the lifeless body that was lying on the ground where he, himself, had just been standing. Painfully he pushed himself up and managed to make his way over to the brother's body. Somehow Blaine had managed to do the same.

"He's dead…"

Kurt was furious. He was sad, but he was also quite angry. How could this evil lady keep killing people? He had to do something to make her stop. He had to stop letting himself and others be the victims. It was time to fight back.

_Courage._

He was advancing towards the Witch before she had a chance to react. "What is wrong with you?!" Kurt was just as surprised as the Witch was when he quickly tore the staff from her grip and flung it to the side – he knew it was a dangerous move, a risk he might not have at first considered to take if he wasn't so focused on staying strong.

The staff bounced off a huge chunk of stone and landed on the ground near Wilhem's lifeless body. Before the Witch could move, Blaine had grabbed it and managed to snap it in two.

"NO!" The Witch's eyes widened; her expression was even more furious than before. "You think that can stop me? I still have my power!" She angrily gestured towards Blaine and in a blink of an eye he had disappeared.

Kurt felt his heart nearly stop. Blaine was gone. Where was he? What had the Witch done? Was he still alive somewhere?

"And now it's your turn." The Witch glared, turning to Kurt. "I may not be able to send you back to that miserable Earth right this instant, but I can lock you away somewhere you can never escape!" Kurt tried to run, wondering if there was anywhere he could go to leave the room, but the Witch was too fast for him. She caught up with him quickly, grabbing his arm with a grip too strong for his struggling to break. "I hope you like naps, Kurt, because you're about to take a long one."

Before Kurt had time to process this information he felt an overwhelming dizziness overtake him and he sunk into unconsciousness.


	15. Sleeping Beauty

_A/N - Hello, everyone! Sorry it has been a while. Life gets in the way, and then there was NaNoWriMo! I tried to stay away from the site so I could concentrate on my 50,000 words (which I completed, yay me!), but, of course, that means you all had to wait. I am very sorry about that. *begs for forgivenessssss* Now that we're into December I will do my best to get more chapters of everything to you all. I swearsss it. X3_

_Now please enjoy the last chapter of 'Klaine's Fairytales'. __***NOTE***__ This is not, however, the end entirely! I have a sequel planned already and things are going to get interesting for Kurt, Blaine, and Blaine. Haha._

* * *

><p>Blaine did not know where he was, but one thing was for sure: he was no longer in the room with the Witch and Kurt.<p>

His body still ached from having been flung against the broken piece of stone wall earlier. Slowly he got up off the ground he was lying upon, glancing about as he did. He was in the middle of a clearing somewhere, surrounded by some rather nasty looking bushes. The bushes had dark leaves and some of the longest, nastiest looking thorns he had ever seen in his life.

Where the heck was he now? In a different world? If so…where was Kurt? Was he still back there with that Witch? Was he even still- no. It was not good to start thinking like that. Kurt was still alive. Blaine could feel it.

He needed a plan, some way to figure out where he was and how he was going to get back to Kurt. If he could get back to Kurt; after all, the Tor was most likely not in this world and if he so happened to run into the Witch again there was no way _she_ was going to help him. The only way Blaine could think of finding Kurt was to either find the Tor – if it was even here, which he doubted – find Kurt – if _he_ was even here, which Blaine doubted more – or somehow managed to find this supposed other brother: Jakob. Maybe, even though the Witch held most of the power around the worlds now, Wilhem's brother would still be able to help him out, help them _both_ out.

"First thing's first…we have to get out of this clearing." Blaine's voice sounded hollow in the dark clearing. It was off putting, making him feel slightly nervous.

He looked about the clearing, seeking a way out. Just when he was about to give up, he spotted a darker spot off to the right. Upon closer inspection he realized it was definitely a small path. It was a start, but there was a problem: the path was surrounded by the thorny bushes, including directly above. He would have to crawl through. Seeing no other way, Blaine crouched down and started making his way through the thorny path. It was narrow, someone like Kurt would have a lot more luck getting through unscathed, but, unfortunately, Blaine was slightly taller and he had to keep his head down a lot so his curly hair wouldn't get caught on the thorns. His shoulders did not escape though, earning him a few scratches and jabs that bled through his shirt.

Just when he was wondering how much longer it could be he spotted a lighter area ahead. Finally he reached the end of the tunnel and he was out. It felt good to be able to stand and stretch out his cramped body.

"Hello there." A voice called out nearby. "What are you doing in the hedge?"

Blaine looked around and spotted an older man watching him curiously. "It's a long story, honestly. Can you tell me where I am?"

The man gave him an odd look. "How can you not know where you are? Surely you must know, because no one would dare go amongst the hedge unless they were attempting to save the royal family."

"Sorry, but I'm kind of lost." Blaine just needed to know where he was. "What happened to the royal family?"

"Wow," the man laughed, "you really must not be from around here. Some evil witch cursed the family about one hundred years ago, though it was mainly intended for the princess. The entire castle has fallen into a really deep slumber. There have been many of brave souls who tried to make their way through the hedge in an attempt to rescue the family and those trapped inside with them, but no one has survived and returned to tell what lies beyond."

It all sounded quite dangerous to Blaine, but could the witch who cursed the royal family be the same one who had been following Kurt all this time? Maybe he needed to help out by removing the curse.

"Where's the entrance to this place?" He asked the older man, glancing back at the area of hedge he had just left. He did not fancy finding his way through even more of that nasty stuff.

The man pointed down the path a ways. "If you head down that way you'll eventually see the pillars sticking up through the top of the hedge. They mark the gate to the castle, but you really don't want to be going in there. Even if you get past the hedge, which is highly unlikely, there has to be something more dangerous waiting inside."

"I'll take my chances."

Thanking the old man, Blaine turned and headed down the path, keeping an eye out for the pillars. It was only a few minutes later that he caught a glimpse of them. They were barely visible, dark thorny vines twisted up around their gray stone.

"You're not going in there, are you?"

Blaine turned around to see a younger man approaching him. The man had tanner skin than his own and looked different in ethnicity. He had a sword with him and looked to be dressed in royal attire.

"Uh, I was considering." Blaine replied honestly. "Why?"

"My name is Mike. I'm a prince from a land not far from here and had heard about the cursed family. Who are you?"

"I'm Blaine." This Mike prince looked small, but there was a determined look in his eyes that even had Blaine feeling a bit more confident. He wondered if this Mike was a twin of someone from Kurt's world. "You wouldn't mind if I went with you?"

Mike said he did not mind at all. They both scrutinized the hedge blocking the gate. It seemed like the only way through would be to cut at it.

When Mike went to cut at the vines with his sword, however, a miraculous thing happened. The vines rapidly shrunk away from the blade, clearing a path for them through the gate and into the castle's courtyard.

"That was convenient." Blaine commented as Mike looked on in surprise.

They ran through the gate and into the courtyard, not wanting to stick around if the hedge decided to close up again.

Inside the courtyard they were met with a sight that seemed quite peculiar. The old man had been right – the entire castle _was_ asleep. It was not just the people either. Birds sat upon the roof of the castle and barn, sound asleep. Inside the barn the horses were fast asleep as well, along with the dogs and stablemen.

Moving on to the castle, Blaine pushed the front door open so they could get inside. Not a sound met their ears. Various servants were asleep amongst the halls, the cook in the kitchen was on the floor by the fireplace and a maid was asleep at the table, a dead chicken placed upon the table in front of her, and the scullery boy was lying halfway through the doorway into the pantry.

"It's like everything has frozen in time here." Mike commented, his voice unnaturally loud in the silence of that surrounded them.

Blaine had to agree. It was probably the weirdest thing he had experienced since meeting Kurt and going with him on his adventures. Even the little men that had helped him back at the shoe shop were nothing compared to this.

The next room they entered looked to be the throne room. It was a huge hall. The entire court seemed to have fallen asleep there and the king and queen were sleeping upon their thrones.

Mike told him that the princess was supposed to be up in the highest tower. The staircase leading up to it was long and winding. Blaine followed him up and up until they finally reached a door. Looking out the small window in the hall of the staircase, Blaine could see out into the courtyard below. The hedge was still parted and were his eyes deceiving him or did he see flowers on the vines?

He did not get time to contemplate the flowers further because he was distracted by Mike trying to open the door. It appeared to be locked. Suggesting that they just break the door down, together they backed up and rammed the door. It caved between the two of them and they stumbled into the room.

The first thing they noticed was the huge bed in the room, on top of which laid the cursed princess. She was pretty; her eyes were closed and her hair was long and black. The second thing they noticed was the boy lying on the floor in the corner of the room.

Blaine recognized him right away. It was Kurt.

"Kurt!" He ran right past the sleeping princess to crouch down next to the sleeping boy. "Are you okay? Come on, wake up…" Kurt was not responding to Blaine's words, or the gently shaking of his shoulder. Blaine could only hope he was not dead.

"Is that a friend of yours?" Mike asked curiously. "How could he be in here? No one has survived getting in here for over a hundred years."

Blaine explained that he and Kurt had been traveling together for a long time now and that they had unfortunately gotten on the wrong side of a very evil witch. Of course he left out a lot of the details; because there was no point in explaining all the world traveling stuff to someone he would most likely be leaving in the near future. Mike was very sorry to hear about their misfortune, though he was glad that Blaine had found Kurt once more.

"Maybe, since he was sent here, he was affected by the curse that befell this princess and the castle?" The prince suggested. "If we can rid the princess of her curse then hopefully everyone will wake up as well, including your friend there."

"I hope so." Blaine was going to keep hoping for good luck. He stayed on the floor next to Kurt as Mike went over to get a closer look at the princess.

Mike looked to be simply stunned by the princess. However, neither of them knew how to break the curse she was under. Blaine was about to speak again when Mike just leaned right on over and kissed the princess on the lips.

To Blaine's surprise the kiss seemed to have worked. The princess stirred upon the bed, her eyes fluttering open as she smiled up at Mike.

"Who are you?" She asked quietly as Mike helped her sit up. Once she was sitting up she noticed Blaine and Kurt as well. "Oh, and who are they?"

Mike introduced his self, and then Blaine and Kurt as well. The princess told them her name was Tina and she thanked Mike shyly for breaking the curse she had been under. Through the window, down in the courtyard, they could hear sounds of the castle coming back to life from its deep slumber. They were pretty sure that meant everyone inside the castle would be waking now as well.

Blaine was happy for Mike and Tina, but unfortunately Kurt had not yet awake. He was still lying in Blaine's arms, eyes closed, fast asleep. How would he wake him now?

"What is wrong with Kurt?" Tina asked, walking over to join Blaine. "He must not be under the same curse; otherwise he would have awoken by now."

"I don't know." Blaine's heart ached. All he wanted to do was help Kurt wake up. This was not how things were supposed to end.

Though at least this way he still had Kurt; because he was right, this was not how it ended for them. It was supposed to end much worse. He was supposed to stay behind as Kurt went back to his own world and they were never supposed to see each other again. Blaine did not want that. He wanted to be selfish and keep Kurt with him forever. They were meant to be together; he just knew it.

"Well, you could always give the kiss thing a try." Mike suggested, shrugging.

"Kurt, please wake up." Blaine cradled Kurt in his arms tenderly, tilting the younger boy's face towards his own. "You're not allowed to leave me yet. Not until I get to say goodbye properly. I love you." He leaned forward and kissed Kurt softly, praying the same thing would work for him as it had for Mike and Tina.

The room felt hot, too hot. A breeze blew through the window and suddenly the weight lifted from his arms. Blaine opened his eyes in shock, his heart thudding painfully in his chest. Kurt was gone.

* * *

><p>Beeping. Why was there beeping? And it was cold. He was in a bed and it was cold and a light was shining down upon him. It was annoying. What was that smell? He hated that smell. It reminded him of hospitals and doctors' offices. His entire body felt heavy and his head hurt, his forehead throbbing. He tried to lift his hand to his head to rub at his temple, but he could barely make his fingers twitch.<p>

"Oh my god, Kurt!"

Was that Blaine's voice?

"He's awake! Mr. Hummel, Kurt's waking up!"

It did not sound right. Not deep enough. Blaine sounded younger. Was he in another world again? The last thing he could remember was the Witch cursing him or something- oh no! She still had the key! He had to wake up. He had to find Blaine and Jakob and somehow fix this whole mess he helped create, because it was his fault the Witch had gotten the key in the first place.

"Kurt? Kurt, come on, please open your eyes."

A hand grabbed his. The new voice brought tears to his eyes. It sounded like his dad's voice, but how could it be?

"Please, Kurt. I can't lose you too. Please…"

He did not want his dad to be upset. It hurt. He had to open his eyes and comfort his dad. Opening his eyes was a struggle though. His eyelids felt too heavy. Slowly he was able to open them, squinting at the bright light that lit the room. The sight that greeted him made his heart race.

His father, his actual father, was gazing down at him, tears in his eyes.

"Dad…" It had been too long; too, too long. "I love you."

"God, I love you too, son." His father leaned over to kiss his forehead. It was painful to see him crying. "I was so scared I was going to lose you."

"I'm not going anywhere, dad." He reassured his father weakly. "Not again. I promise."

How had he made it back home? Was he really home or was this some sick joke the Witch was playing on him? Nothing made any sense. Where had Blaine gone?

"Blaine?" The name was out of his mouth before he realized that if he _was_ back in his own world it might be a little strange for him to be asking for Blaine at a time like this. He quickly covered his mistake up. "I thought I heard his voice."

Someone moved over to his bedside, opposite of his father. It was Blaine alright, but the younger Blaine from his world; not the older Blaine he had spent so much time with and wanted to see. "I'm right here. I was the one who found you at the library."

"The library?"

"Yeah," his father spoke up to explain, sounding a bit angry, "in the attic. Remember? I kind of forced you into helping out with their book sale or whatever it was they were doing. That damn building; it's so old and falling apart. I'm going to have a talk with them now that you're awake. Thank god Blaine found out you were over there and decided to go help out. I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't…"

His father couldn't finish talking, having gotten slightly choked up. He clutched his hand tightly. "What happened?"

"A part of the roof collapsed, only a small part of it, like a few bricks fell in." Blaine explained next to him. "The people who work at the library don't really know how it happened, but the building is old and all. I'm sure I only got there shortly after it occurred. One of the bricks that fell hit you on the head. You were totally unconscious and there was a lot of blood…it's been a week…"

Blaine looked really pale just talking about it and Kurt did not need to hear more to understand the rest. He must have been out for a really long time, and that would explain why his head hurt so badly. Thank goodness the roof in the attic hadn't been so high. He would probably be dead if the brick had fallen from higher up.

But a week? He was confused. After the Witch had shown up in the attic he did remember getting hit on the head with something, right after she had touched his forehead, but he had been traveling through worlds for years. Did time there not affect time here on Earth?

Or had none of it really happened at all?

Was it all a dream? Had none of his travels and experiences really occurred? Did any of the people he had met even exist?

"I don't want you to get overwhelmed, Kurt." His father spoke up. "How about we let you rest some more? I'm going to go get a doctor." Oh, how he hated doctors. "I'll leave you with Blaine. The boy's been here every single day since the incident, talking to you and everything." Blaine looked embarrassed and, even in his tired state, Kurt thought it was cute, but why could he only keep thinking about the older Blaine? "I'm sure he'll be capable of watching over you until I return."

"Alright, dad." He smiled weakly as his father left the room, leaving him with Blaine.

Blaine moved over to the other side of the bed, pulling a chair closer to sit next to him. "Your dad's been really worried. Finn and, er, Carol, is it?" Kurt nodded. "They've been helping him out a lot. Your friends from Glee club have been around a lot too. I've gotten to know them really well, and got to hear plenty of funny Kurt stories."

Any other time Kurt probably would have either been quite embarrassed, or really annoyed to hear that his friends had told a really cute friend of his funny stories about him, but at the moment he practically could care less.

For some reason he was still really confused. And by the time he was finally released from the hospital and could go home with his father, he was still feeling rather confused.

How had everything he had been through just…not happened? He could remember it all, practically every single thing that had happened to him. It was all so vivid in his mind. He could even remember still what it had felt like to be in the older Blaine's arms, kissing him. There was no way that any of it could have _not_ happened.

Everything felt off, out of sync. Why did he feel like there was still so much he had to do? Stuff he needed to fix, like getting the key back from the Witch and getting rid of her for good for what she had done, for who she had killed, why, if none of it had been real, did he still feel like he had to do all that?

And why did he feel like that older Blaine was still out there, searching for him?


End file.
